WORDS FROM WISE OR MERE TRASH TALK?

Byline: KEVIN MODESTI

SACRAMENTO - They read the quotes in the newspapers, and they listen to the sound bites on television, and they can't quite believe what they're seeing and hearing.

Who's saying these boastful, disdainful, outrageous things? the Lakers wonder.

Oh, it's us.

Is that Joe Namath coming this close to guaranteeing a victory over the Sacramento Kings? No, it's the reflective Rick Fox. Is that the Rock running down the Kings as quitters? Gosh, no, it's the soft-spoken Samaki Walker.

Since when do two-time defending NBA champions trash talk like playground upstarts? Since now, apparently.

It began in the locker room at Staples Center after the Lakers eliminated San Antonio last week. Unprovoked, Fox said to reporters, ``We will win the next series.'' Within minutes, a man from TV told Fisher, ``Rick is guaranteeing that you guys will win the next series.'' And Fisher chuckled uncomfortably and replied, ``Oh, he did?''

The next day, Walker made his comment about having watched the Kings ``fold'' when the Lakers took a two-game lead in their 2001 playoff series, and the smackdown was on.

Before, it was Shaquille O'Neal muttering the putdowns. Now it's the mild-mannered guys as well.

Well, at least the Lakers needn't fear they'll make themselves any more hated around the country than they already are.

``I think people already have the opinions of the confidence or, in some ways, the arrogance that we have,'' Fisher said Sunday as the Lakers prepared to try to take a 2-0 lead over the Kings tonight in the best-of-seven-game Western Conference finals. ``I think Kobe (Bryant) and Shaquille have carried that banner for us quite well in recent years. It's just been a little different hearing guys like myself, Samaki and Rick making comments.''

Fisher isn't sure he likes the soundtrack of the Lakers' second championship sequel.

``It's been a little bit strange,'' he said. ``It almost went overboard before the game even started (Saturday), with some of the back-and-forth things. Personally, I'm backing off on it. I don't really feel like it's necessary. I just thought about the champions of the past and it not being something that they really engaged in. Maybe it's just because I didn't read the papers, but I don't remember Magic (Johnson) or Michael (Jordan) getting into this type of banter.

``I think our play has exemplified where we stand, and that will (serve as) our words.''

Which is what Robert Horry, a veteran of title-winning teams in Houston and Los Angeles, has been thinking as he dodges shrapnel from the war of words.

``One bad thing about guys getting championships: They get a little cocky, and they want to talk trash,'' Horry said. ``Our motto in Houston was, `Stay hungry and stay humble.' That's the sort of thing this team is not like. In Houston, we wouldn't talk s--- about nobody. Even though we knew we were going to kill people in certain series, we wouldn't say it.

``Here you've got guys like, for instance, Samaki, saying they (the Kings) laid it down. We would never have said that. Like Phil (Jackson) calling this a `cowtown.' T (Rockets coach Rudy Tomjanovich) never would have said that. You never try to stir anything up if you don't have to.''

What has made this year's Lakers more willing to engage in, and even initiate, the verbal battles?

The Kings' Vlade Divac has an idea.

``Sometimes, when you start talking, that means you're a little bit afraid,'' Divac said Sunday.

The Lakers, afraid?

``That was before Game 1,'' Divac added. ``Now, I don't think they're going to talk.''

Way to shut 'em up, Sacramento.

The Lakers have different takes on the causes of their cockiness.

The Kings started it.

It was a remark from Divac, that the Lakers couldn't win without the home-court advantage, that got under the champions' formerly thick skins. Unlike past Lakers, who might have said something diplomatic about proving it in the games, this group fired back.

``They would have been better off treating us like the (Chicago) Bulls and the Golden State Warriors and everyone else who beat us in the regular season by saying they didn't expect to win and then (sneaking) up on us,'' Fox said. ``That's a very presumptuous statement by them, ... that the championship would have to come through here if they had home-court advantage. What championship? I don't see any banners in this arena.''

The media started it.

``You ask me a question, I'll tell you the truth,'' Fox said. ``You ask me, do I believe we're going to win? Yes.''

Whoever started it, this is too much fun to stop now.

``It creates interesting television,'' Fox said.

You wouldn't want the Lakers to get bored on their way to a three-peat, would you?

``It's probably a good thing for us,'' Brian Shaw said of the yackety-yak. ``It's another challenge and another factor to motivate us.''

My take is that the Lakers can say anything they want as long as they back it up, which they show every sign of being prepared to do.

In other words, it ain't bragging if you can do it, as Dizzy Dean once said.

Or was that Lindsey Hunter?

CAPTION(S):

photo, 2 boxes

Photo:

(color) Vlade Divac (21) and Sacramento will try to even the series against Samaki Walker and the Lakers in Game 2 tonight.

Kevork Djansezian/Associated Press

Box:

(1) KINGS PLAYOFF STATISTICS

(2) LAKERS PLAYOFF STATISTICS