SAN ANTONIO VS. LOS ANGELES PHILADELPHIA VS. MILWAUKEE

Friday, June 1 No games? No worries for Lakers By David Lassen Scripps Howard News Service EL SEGUNDO, Calif. -- They're waiting. They're watching. They're working out. Finals schedule All times ET Game 1: June 6 at LA, 9 p.m. Game 2: June 8 at LA, 9 p.m. Game 3: June 10 at East, 7:30 p.m. Game 4: June 13 at East, 9 p.m. Game 5*: June 15 at East, 9 p.m. Game 6*: June 18 at LA, 9 p.m. Game 7*: June 20 at LA, 9 p.m. * - if necessary But, with Game 1 of the NBA Finals still six days away, one thing the L.A. Lakers weren't doing on Thursday was worrying. Lightheartedness was the prevailing mood after Thursday's workout at the Lakers' HealthSouth Training Center facility, with Shaquille O'Neal discussing his prowess in other sports and Kobe Bryant proclaiming himself king of the team's trash-talkers in practice. His game face nowhere in evidence -- "I'll start getting that on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday," he said -- O'Neal claimed he was as fearsome an opponent in beach volleyball as he's been in the NBA playoffs. "I'm known in Manhattan Beach as the black Sinjin Smith," said O'Neal, "because of my fierceness, my ghetto tactics and my spiking ability. When the ball comes, I'll take some sand, throw it in your face, get you off balance and then spike it down." Did he have good leaping ability, he was asked. "Yes." A good serve? "Yes." But does he look good in a bathing suit? "No." Bryant said practice on Day 5 of the team's nine days off between games was not boring, because the Lakers are enjoying competing against each other. “ We have a good time playing each other. Talking trash, betting on shooting contests and stuff like that. We have a good time being around one another. When we find out who we're going to play, I'm sure the intensity will pick up even more. ” — Kobe Bryant "We have a good time playing each other," he said. "Talking trash, betting on shooting contests and stuff like that. We have a good time being around one another. When we find out who we're going to play, I'm sure the intensity will pick up even more." Inevitably, he was asked who was the team's best trash talker. "Oh, I am, definitely," he said, adding that he's the Lakers' version of all-league trash-talker Gary Payton. "Everybody starts running their mouth," he added. "Harper will get into it, Brian Shaw will get into it, Diesel (O'Neal) will start talking a little bit, Tyronn Lue will get into it. It's fun. Makes practice very competitive." Coach Phil Jackson said the practice was sloppy, but still productive. "Guys were running into each other and shooting airballs," he said. "But at least they got some run and maybe we'll get our rhythm back in the next couple days. "The urgency of getting back into rhythm isn't there. But it was a good practice, lot of energy." Jackson said the team would have an informal scrimmage game in one of its upcoming practices, "to see if we can't kind of get the feel of a game back again." It's never too soon to critique the referees: After watching Game 5 of the Eastern Conference final -- an 89-88 Philadelphia win over visiting Milwaukee -- Jackson was not just a neutral observer on topic of the officiating. "(There were) flagrant fouls that were obviously questionable calls, subjective calls that I think the league has to look at how to control those calls," he said. A Philadelphia reporter asked if he was, then, sympathetic to the complaints of Bucks coach George Karl, whose team has been averaging 11 fewer free-throw attempts than the 76ers, including a 30-6 differential in Game 2. "It's pretty obvious," said Jackson. "When you get beat from the free-throw line, it's pretty difficult. ... When you're a jump-shooting team, you're not going to have as many fouls. But the situational stuff ... I know there are a lot of things that Milwaukee's going to look at the tape and go, 'Gee whiz. We got hosed,' or whatever. "But in the playoffs, that's the way it is. You just have to come back and play hard." Send this story to a friend | Most sent stories

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