April 7, 2003

We had a quick trip home after our tough loss in Los Angeles Sunday night before we head up to Denver to play the Nuggets on Tuesday. Just enough time for another entry in my Journal.

Although we lost, we were really pleased with our effort against the Lakers. We were a few plays away from winning, which could be said about a lot of our games this year. L.A. is a team that is playing really well right now. Shaq is really starting to hit his stride and he seems to be in really good shape. And Kobe, of course, is always dangerous, especially at the end of the game. We took their best punches and we were still in that ballgame. In fact, I would say we were in control most of the game but Kobe is sometimes too much for any team. He hit the game-winning shot in Memphis before we played them and then came up with two clutch shots against us.

We know we easily could have had that one and if we play like that against 95 percent of the teams in this league, we’re going to win. I think we need to take the good things that we did in that Laker game, think about those things and just forget the negative. We should forget about some of the missed shots we had, some of the defensive lapses we had, because we played hard all the way through.

On the final stretch of any season, you want to put yourself in a position to go into the postseason with your chest puffed up high because that is the only way you can do well in the playoffs. Not only do we want to make the playoffs, we want to be playing well going into the playoffs because we know we’re going to have to play the top seed if and when we do make it. We know we’re going to have to play Dallas, Sacramento or San Antonio and in order to beat them we have to be not only feeling we’re the best team in the NBA, because that’s what you have to do beat a team like that, but we have to be playing well going in. There would be no better time to be playing well for us than right now because we need every game just to get that eighth spot to get into the playoffs.

It is similar to the NCAA tournament. It’s always those teams that limp towards the finish line of the regular season that sputter out in the tournament because they don’t have confidence. The other team just sees their vulnerabilities and attacks their weaknesses, and everybody starts to doubt one another. I never got to a Final Four at Stanford and there was only one team I was on that I thought should have gotten there. We just happened to run into a bad shooting slump and a good opponent. But the other two years, we didn’t have the confidence because we didn’t end our season well. Last year we lost in the first round of the Pac-10 tournament, and then we lost in the second round of the NCAA tournament to Kansas by 30. There is something to be said for momentum, for having confidence that comes from a strong finish.

Speaking of Stanford, it was really fun playing against the Laker’s Mark Madsen, a friend and former college teammate of mine. Most fans love players that just work their butts off every second that they’re out on the court. This league is full of really talented players that can do everything. Mark is not one of those. He’s kind of unique. He doesn’t have crossover dribbles and he doesn’t have extremely spectacular post moves. He is pretty athletic and he can dunk on a lot of people, but he is unique in the fact that he’s not as talented as most of the guys he goes up against and he would admit that. Yet he gets the job done and that’s what has made him a fan favorite.

People respect players that hustle. Players that, no matter if they play five minutes or 30 minutes or all 48 minutes, are just going full blast anytime they are on the court. People respect players like that and want to cheer for them. I think there’s also an underdog kind of mentality that Mark has. He’s undersized at his position in the NBA, so I think people want him to do well because you look at him and wouldn’t say, “He’s definitely an NBA player.” You would never say that. Just to look at him, you wouldn’t believe he’s an NBA power forward.

You hear so many things about how much people love Mark, how great a person he is. I’ll tell you what; I think he’s even a better guy than people say. He’s even beyond what people say about him. He’s the nicest guy I know and ever played with. I only played with him for one year, but it was enough time to really get to know him and I can now call him one of my good friends in the NBA.

The last time the Lakers played in Phoenix Mark came over to my apartment and we had some food after the game because the Lakers stayed in town overnight and left the next day. It was Mark’s birthday that day so it was nice to spend some time with him.

Playing against him is weird, though. I don’t guard him so it’s not the same as if we were literally playing against each other. I do like playing against former Stanford players, however. I’m definitely proud to be from Stanford and I know Mark is proud to be from Stanford as well. We want more Stanford players in the NBA so we can build a fraternity of former Cardinal players in the league. There is definitely a bond.