Tuesday, March 31, 2009

MJ tries to psych Lakers out

Interesting pre-game scene here in Charlotte, where the Bobcats will host the L.A. Lakers tonight.

Michael Jordan spent some time a couple of hours before tonight's 7 p.m. game with Phil Jackson, now the coach of the Lakers but MJ's longtime coach with the Chicago Bulls. As Jordan exited the Lakers' locker room, he called over his shoulder: "Good luck, Phil Jackson."

When asked if such a comment was serious, Jackson said no. "Michael's team needs to win some games," Jackson said. "So right now he's trying to psych us out."

A couple of other pregame notes:

-- Laker star Kobe Bryant had a very lengthy shooting session before the game, practicing on the goals at Time Warner Cable arena for an hour longer than many of the other players. Bryant is nursing a bit of a bad ankle, but he's expected to play tonight.

-- The game should be the Bobcats' 7th sellout of the season. Two of the best players in ACC history are expected to be among that sellout crowd -- Jordan, of course, and also David Thompson, the former N.C. State star and current Charlotte resident.

-- Everyone will see a Bobcats team trying to win for the sixth time in the last seven games against the Lakers -- one of the most inexplicable sports streaks I've ever heard of, given that the Bobcats haven't made the playoffs in their existence.

-- A small break for the Bobcats: Kevin Garnett is injured and won't play for the Celtics when Charlotte travels to Boston for a Wednesday night game.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

MJ way to psych, it worked!

Anonymous said...

I liked how this article was posted way before the game and nobody said anything. I'm sure a number of trolls were waiting for the Bobcats to loose, so they could toss it back into MJ's face. Sadly, for them... it didn't.

Very impressed with this Bobcats team. If we had won some of the games lately that should have won, we'd be in better shape. We didn't, and we're paying the price for it.

I still think we can squeeze it. Detiot losing tonight helped a lot.