Los Angeles Lakers head coach Mike Brown not interested in extending series against Denver Nuggets – NBA Update
The Los Angeles Lakers head coach Mike Brown has said that he did not once consider extending the series against Denver Nuggets to facilitate Metta World Peace’s return. The Lakers coach was speaking before his side hosted the Denver Nuggets for game-5 of
their Western Conference first round playoffs series.
Lakers forward Metta World Peace was suspended for six games after hitting Oklahoma City Thunder guard James Harden in the head with his elbow. He has been serving the suspension since. With Los Angeles up 3 – 1 before their game-5 encounter against the
Nuggets, some people had suggested that they lose the game and win the series in game-6, so that in the next series World Peace would be available from the start.
The logic is that Metta can be a very useful defender and impact player for Los Angeles. His worth could be multiplied if the Lakers make it to the next round, where they are set to face the Thunder. His feud with James Harden notwithstanding, the Lakers
could use him to put the shackles on Oklahoma City Thunder star Kevin Durant.
Durant has been on fire in the post season and is 3 times NBA scoring champions. So stopping him is going to be the first priority for Mike Brown’s men if they make it to the next round.
The coach however laughed off suggestions that Lakers should extend the series by design, calling the suggestions ludicrous.
"Two guys told me that (Monday), they said that the Twitter world is suggesting that we do that," Brown said Tuesday. "That we lose (Game 5) so that we can extend the series to get Metta World Peace back. I'm not even going to answer that. To me, that's
a joke. When they said that to me, I just laughed.”
Mike Brown, though aware of Metta’s importance to his plans, said there was no way he would lose a game just to have his suspension run its course. Brown said first and foremost he wanted to win basketball games.
"No, if we can win the game, we're going to try to win the game. There's never been a time that I ever thought partially about losing a game for this to happen or that to happen. So, if Metta comes back in 10 games or if he comes back in one game, I'm not
worried about that.”
Tags: