NBA
NBA notebook: With L.A. down 2-0, Jackson, Payton vent

By The Associated Press

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LOS ANGELES — Facing a potential knockout punch, the fractious Lakers received a warning from coach Phil Jackson yesterday concerning their uncertain future.

And an animated Gary Payton unleashed an emotional torrent, expressing frustration with his teammates, coaches and the media.

The Lakers host the San Antonio Spurs today in Game 3 of their Western Conference semifinal series. The Spurs won a pair of 10-point decisions in San Antonio for a 2-0 lead.

The Lakers realize no NBA team has ever won a best-of-seven series after losing the first three games. With that in mind, Jackson was asked if he was feeling the pressure.

"No, I'm not, and that's kind of surprising," he said. "We know what we've done with this basketball club. Now, they've got to push it to the limit.

"We have a team with a nebulous future. ... It's a team that has to play for the now."

Payton is one of eight players on the roster who aren't locked in with the team past this season.

He has had his problems in this series, primarily in matching up with the Spurs' Tony Parker.

"Basketball's up and down," Payton told reporters. "It's a wishy-washy thing with y'all, anyway."
 
That was just the beginning.

"You all can blame me for everything, I don't care," Payton said. "Whatever. Blame me. I could care less. I'm going to go home and play with my kids. Ain't no problem.

"I can't stop Tony Parker, OK? If I keep getting on the pick and roll, anybody can be like that. Anybody will beat you. Let me get in a pick and roll 65 times, and I can beat you, too.

"This is a team game. If we focus on stopping him, we can do that. You can put it on me, whatever you want to do. I can be the scapegoat."

Payton went on to say he hasn't gotten the needed help from teammates in defending Parker in pick-and-roll situations, and the Lakers haven't worked enough in that area.

"It's just like they play defense, they help," he said of the Spurs. "That's just the way we have to play basketball, too. If we all work together, if we played the way we're supposed to, we'll win.

"Everybody signed on to see what this team could do. If it doesn't happen, we can't sit here and cry about it. A lot of people might not be here (next year)."

Critics target Nets' Frank

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — With the New Jersey Nets down 2-0 to the Detroit Pistons in their Eastern Conference semifinal series, coach Lawrence Frank's coaching performance was being picked apart.

Fans complained he wasn't quick enough to call timeouts to attempt to slow a pair of runs — 19-2 in the third quarter and 19-6 in the fourth — that keyed Detroit's 95-80 Game 2 victory on Friday.

Those were only the latest voices to chime in on the Nets' 33-year-old coach.

On Friday, Nets president Rod Thorn criticized Detroit coach Larry Brown for saying that by replacing former coach Byron Scott with Frank, the Nets demonstrated they believe "anybody can coach."

"I think that's totally off-base. And coming from him, his past, the things he's done, he has no idea what goes on with our team," Thorn said.

Frank said the biggest difference between the teams in Game 2 was Detroit's energy and its defensive pressure on the ball.

"If you look at the shot chart in that third quarter, everything was inside the paint where you want them. We just weren't able to finish," Frank said.