When asked what his plans are for next season, Gary Payton smiled.
"Well," Payton said, "I'm leaning towards coming back."
He didn't say why.
It has been a difficult season for Payton and he has been upset with his role in the offense, lashing out at times, hinting that he might opt out of his contract when the season is over.
But Payton will be 36 in July, and it looks as if his skills are eroding. He's due to earn $5.4 million next season, the final year of a two-year deal he signed last summer.
Because of his poor play, Payton might not get more than the veteran's exception of $1.5 million if he opts out.
Payton, who has had his share of run-ins with Coach Phil Jackson, was asked about a story that he refused to go back into Game 2 Tuesday night when Jackson asked him.
Payton said he told Jackson to leave Derek Fisher in the game because he was playing better. He also said his feet have been sore for the past two months and that the pain flared up again.
Payton added that if Jackson had insisted and he really was needed, "I would have gone back in."
Payton said he got new orthotics in his shoes and that he increased his shoe size from his normal 13½ to 14. He worked out before the game.
"It felt good," Payton said. "I'll be all right."
Malone toughs it out:
At no time did Karl Malone consider sitting out Game 3 of the NBA Finals Thursday night to get ready for Game 4 Sunday.
Malone has a sprained medial collateral ligament in his right knee. He re-aggravated it in the first quarter of Game 2 Tuesday night.
Had Malone sat out, he would have had four days to rest it before playing again.
But it's the same injury Malone suffered back in December and forced him to miss 39 games.
"It's the same injury I had when I missed three months," Malone said. "Three days is not going to do anything that three months couldn't do."
So he limped up and down the court Thursday night, playing 18 minutes.
Malone scored five points and grabbed four rebounds.
"When I put that uniform on, I've got to be the best that I can be," Malone said after the game. "Sometimes on some night, your mind is telling you to do some things and you don't respond, which is disappointing. I let my teammates down."
Malone left the game with 6:01 left in the third quarter and never returned.
"Karl showed a lot of guts," Shaquille O'Neal said. "He's obviously hurt, limping up and down."
Gary Payton has two sore arches, part of the reason he did not play the fourth quarter or overtime of Game 2, and the reason he declined to go back into the game when Coach Phil Jackson requested it near the end of regulation.
Payton said Thursday he would need the summer to heal, but in the meantime has been fitted with new orthotic devices he hopes will ease the pain.
According to Jackson, he asked Payton to replace Derek Fisher with about three minutes left in the fourth quarter Tuesday night. Payton said he was in pain, and that he also was cold from sitting since the end of the third quarter.
"I was stiff, and Fish had just hit that big three," Payton said.
Had his coach insisted, Payton said, "I would have gone back in."
Jackson said that he did not think Payton had injured the team, and that he appreciated Payton's honesty.
"We're OK with that," Jackson said.
Karl Malone was involved in a pregame altercation with a fan that led to the fan's being expelled.
According to an NBA official, a complaint of assault was filed by the fan and tapes of the incident were obtained by local police.
Witnesses said the fan, whose name was unavailable, became confrontational when Malone arrived on the floor Thursday night before Game 3. Malone, according to the league officials, put his hand near the man's face when spit upon and the fan then shoved Malone's hand away.
Hehehe, he tried to file a complaint against Malone, asshole..sadly the obtained tapes, ehehe he got expelled.
Sure, be a fan, but to spit on a guy, pfff.
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i know, i feel for them.
you get paid 5 million a year and your supposedly being underpaid. You should be begging the fans to heckle you.
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