For "The Last Man Standing"

[GloveGuy]

"I didn't sign up for this."

Those were the words of Gary Payton; a first-ballot future Hall of Famer who spent 12 and a half years in Seattle, a half with Milwaukee, and has now taken his luggage to L.A. where he was greeted with the other Laker signee, Karl Malone, and two of the biggest ego-maniacs, Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O'Neal. O'Neal had just come off one of his best summers, losing the weight putting on the muscle. Kobe had just come of one of his worst summers, spending a good amount of it dealing with his current sexual assault case.

In the beginning, it seemed perfect. No one was complaining, everyone was producing, and the Lakers were blowing out teams such as the Mavericks and the Spurs. Breaking the 72-10 Bulls record certainly seemed possible...as long as they stayed healthy. The impact of Payton and Malone was definitely noticeable. Malone's impact as more noticeable on the defensive end, giving L.A. a force in the middle, helping put up defensive stops, which would lead to a fast break, which is what Payton provided. GP hadn't looked this fast since the mid-90s. Every play, he was looking to push it, which is when the Lakers looked their most dominant. When he went out, the Lakers looked like nothing more than just an ordinary half-court basketball team.

But then they suffered their first hit. In a game against Phoenix, Karl Malone a fading jumper, only to find himself on the floor, after Scott Williams attempted to box him out. He was given a sprain to the right MCL, and isn't looking to come back until February. The impact on his absence was noticeable, as L.A. lost their Christmas Day game against Houston.

And then Shaq, the center of their offense and defense, went down with a calf injury. And then there were two, as Shaq has missed the last six games. It is debatable on if whether someone like Payton had the same injury, if they would continue to play.

And if GP thought it couldn't get any worse, Kobe Bryant, now the Lakers' number one scorer, serparated his recently repaired shoulder. He was put on the IL and is expected to miss two weeks.

And then there was one...

GP's getting old, and although he's been one of the most consistent players of all time, no longer can he guarantee a double double night-in-night-out. He's just recently coming off a 15 and 15 performance, probably his best outing this year. The dream that Laker fans had of the 2003 Laker Dream Team has yet to occur. Maybe next year, but this year, not happening, even if they do win the Championship.

Whoever you are, don't expect The Glove to get injured. They guys missed 5 games in his career, more to suspensions than to injuries.

"I didn't sign up for this"

No GP, you didn't...

[air gordon]

Whoever you are, don't expect The Glove to get injured. They guys missed 5 games in his career, more to suspensions than to injuries.

I wouldn't rule out Payton getting hurt because prior to this season, the same could be said of Karl Malone but look at what happened now.

and payton might be even playing with an injury right now but is not admitting it

[.]

He didnt say "I didnt sign up for this", because of the injuries that is suffering the Lakers. He said that because of the minutes hes getting from Phil Jackson, which usually is about 25/30.

[Boyk]

Whoever you are, don't expect The Glove to get injured. They guys missed 5 games in his career, more to suspensions than to injuries.

and everyone was saying thta about Karl Malone too, and then looked what happened.
I hope the glove dont get injured anyway.

He didnt say "I didnt sign up for this", because of the injuries that is suffering the Lakers. He said that because of the minutes hes getting from Phil Jackson, which usually is about 25/30.

im glad someone cleared the whole "i didnt sign up for this" thing up.

[GloveGuy]

Ohhh...

Well I won't take it out, but yeah, I guess I was wrong about that...