Some talkies to compliment my postgame thoughts and the Daily Dime chat link.
Kobe Bryant talked about the Sacramento Kings (Wednesday's opponent), los hermanos Gasol, and the high likelihood of Devin Ebanks scouring SportsCenter to see if his fourth quarter dunk made the Top 10. He also got a laugh when asked if he worries about age being a factor while playing for Team USA in 2012:
"Nah. If anything, I'll be Mariano Rivera. Come in during the last two minutes. I'm cool with that, too."
Call me a cynic, but I have a sneaking suspicion Kobe won't be representing his country as a ninth inning kinda guy.
Matt Barnes talked about his persistence cleaning the offensive glass. In part, it was to clean up his own mess. "A lot of those rebounds were my own misses," admitted the small forward with a sheepish grin. The importance of that effort, however, wasn't lost on Barnes, even in the face of a frustrating night:
"Just to keep the ball alive... Just to give our team extra possessions is big."
Shannon Brown offered some very interesting thoughts about the difference between playing with the predominantly young bench of the past two seasons vs. a group now composed of mostly veterans. It's pretty obvious he prefers the latter setup.
Pau Gasol is expecting a tough match from the Kings.