Metta World Peace says he will not reach out to James Harden - NBA Update
Metta World Peace is in no mood of making peace with the Oklahoma City star reserve James Harden before the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Los Angeles Lakers meet each other in the Western Conference Semi Finals.
World Peace had elbowed James Harden in a regular season game between the two teams on April 22. The elbow sent Harden crashing on the floor and he left the game with a concussion, not playing a few games after that one. World
Peace was suspended for 7 games for that act and made his return in game 7 against the Denver Nuggets on Saturday night which the Lakers won.
“I Don’t shake substitutes hands” said World Peace after scoring 15 points in the game against Denver and putting up a great defensive effort to enable the Lakers to take the series and move forward in the playoffs.
Now the Lakers will face the Thunder and the incident between Harden and World Peace has led to many people saying the series will be a very intense one.
James Harden is of course, not just any substitute. He was named the 6th Man of the Year just last week and is a critical part of the team strategy and scoring options. World Peace had made a statement of apology following
the incident but has no plans of taking the initiative of reaching out to Harden before the series starts.
"I shake everybody's hand before the game, but Oklahoma City, they don't shake hands. Only some of them, but I don't think they really shake hands before the game. Kendrick Perkins and now (Russell) Westbrook don't shake hands
either” said World Peace when asked if he would shake the hands of James Harden before the game.
With all the intensity going into the series, World Peace is not bothered about the atmosphere at the Chesapeake Energy Arena when the Lakers open the series there.
"That's not my concern. That's their concern.” Said World Peace
Kobe Bryant, however, seems to think differently. Talking to reporters, Bryant admitted that Chesapeake Energy Arena was going to be very loud and noisy, and the atmosphere would be very intense there. However, he felt that his
team needed to hold their poise and maintain their calm if they wanted to win the series.
The matchup will allow Kobe to go against his former teammate, Derek Fisher. Fisher and Kobe were teammates in the Lakers lineup for many years and have won championships together. When asked about their relationship, Kobe said
that “it’s like brothers”. That will not stop any of them from bringing their best game once the series starts, but Kobe did acknowledge that Fisher was a good friend and a very dangerous player, one who used to motivate and inspire the Lakers lineup.
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