Magic Johnson Rips Lakers

rady

Administrator
Staff member
looks like somebody's not satisfied by the result so far

Portions:
Magic Johnson doesn't like what he sees from the Los Angeles Lakers, and he decided to speak up about it Saturday.

"I think the Lakers had a mind-set that was disrespectful to the Pistons. They thought it was going to be easy. That is not the case," Johnson said. "Unless they come out and play very hard, with the same level of intensity as the Pistons, this series will be over."

"I am angry. You have to compete. And we're not competing," he said. "You can just see the Lakers' frustration. No one is welcoming anyone to the bench. Guys are sitting there, wandering off into the crowd, defeated. We've got to get that look off our faces and play basketball the way it's supposed to be played. If not, the series won't get back to Los Angeles."

"I have eight rings and I want nine," Johnson said. "My anger is that we haven't competed in this series. I don't know what's going on. I don't know what the mind-set is. But this is just unacceptable."

"Gary Payton is 35 years old and isn't the same Gary Payton he was 10 years ago. He has to accept that," Johnson said. "Gary Payton has had a lot of great, wide-open looks and hasn't knocked them down. That doesn't change if you're in the triangle or a 1-4 or what. Wide-open looks are wide-open looks. He shot an airball just the other day, wide-open. Hell, nobody was 10 feet from him.

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/playoffs2004/news/story?id=1820796
 

Only The Knicks

Benchwarmer
Everything he said was right. That's a good way to get your team really pumped. I think that's the motivation the Lakers need. He might not really mean everything he says but it's the kind of thing that makes the Lakers want to win and go "well in your face". I think what he said about Gary Payton was right but when he said "He isn't what he was 10 years ago. He has to face it" well that was dumb 'cause he won't face it. It's the truth but there is no way that's going to happen. If you ask GP if he thinks he was better 10 years ago then he was now he'd say he wasn't.
 

WiL8000

Rotation player
I totally agree with Magic. At the same time I love to see them lose this way because I'm a total Laker hater, they have the talent that other teams can only dream of having, but because of their egos, they can't get it done.....SuCkAs!!!! :flippa:
 
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