We now know that Ron Artest will not be available for the Lakers begin their climb out of the 0-2 hole in Dallas on Friday. How that will change the Lakers gameplan, both on the offensive and defensive ends, remains to be seen. Of course, the Lakers were asked all sorts of questions about the suspension at practice, and this is how they responded:
I'm just ready to move forward and play basketball, we got a big game tomorrow.
Phil Jackson:
Ron was really trying to work hard, he got an offensive foul on a rebounding situation right before that where he chased the ball down and in the process kind of ran Marion into the bench. So I could see that he was getting animated about losing, and you know, those are things that we have to kind of watch.
Kobe Bryant, when asked what the team would have to do with Ron Artest unavailable:
Same thing we have to so with him, defend and rebound the ball.
Lamar Odom:
We'll have to be careful what we do on the court, decisions that we make...and his presence will be missed.