The Lakers' season reportedly took another juicy turn Wednesday as players cleared the air in a team meeting. (Photo: Jayne Kamin-Oncea, USA TODAY Sports) The soap opera that is the 2012-13 Los Angeles Lakers apparently took another juicy turn Wednesday as players "went at each other a little bit" during a team meeting in Memphis, according to a report by the Los Angeles Times. SURPRISE: How Kobe blows off steam According to a person who witnessed the meeting, things got a little heated when Kobe Bryant asked Dwight Howard if the big man liked playing with the Lakers star. Here's how things played out, according to the report: The meeting apparently didn't help the Lakers on the court as they fell to the Grizzlies on Wednesday night for their fourth straight loss. The star-studded squad has had a nightmare of a season so far and it might only be getting worse. As Terrell Owens once said: Get your popcorn ready. Tags
Coach Mike D'Antoni started it by saying he was tired of reading newspaper stories about players questioning his offense or wanting more touches. Bryant and Howard each fell under that category after the Lakers' lifeless 95-83 loss Monday in Chicago: Bryant said the offense needed to slow down while Howard expressed displeasure after taking only five shots.
D'Antoni then told the team to stop worrying about offense and start playing better defense. The Lakers are fifth in scoring (102.6 points a game) but 26th in defense (101.4 points a game).
He then asked players to speak up. Steve Nash went first.
Nash, in his first season with the Lakers, said he didn't care how they played, whether it was via pick-and-roll or fastbreak or whatever. He just wanted everybody to be comfortable in the system. It was seen as a sacrifice by Nash, who played four seasons under D'Antoni's run-and-gun offense in Phoenix and won two NBA MVP awards while doing it.
Bryant also spoke up, acknowledging he could be "hard to play with" and asking Howard if that bothered him.
Howard's answer was unclear, though he did not engage Bryant in nearly as vocal a manner as Bryant engaged him.
"He didn't go back at Kobe," said the person who witnessed the meeting.
Source : http://www.usatoday.com/story/gameon/2013/01/23/los-angeles-lakers-kobe-bryant-dwight-howard/1860375/