The Lakers left on a plane that night, resting up before Saturday’s practice. Swaggy P served his one-game suspension and he was back with the team and all smiles after the Lakers win. He joked about going through customs, being treated like Obama, and writing Swaggy P on his passport. Of course this wasn’t true, but that’s Swaggy’s way of showing everyone he’s in a good mood (see video below).
At about three minutes in to talking with the media, Jordan Farmar dribbled on over. He’s close with Nick, and generally tries to ‘save’ him from the media if Young’s been chatting for too long. This happens in the locker room at Staples all the time. Young’s usually late to Staples, gets stuck talking with the media at his locker and Farmar always drags Young out of the locker room to shootaround. This time, Young made fun of Farmar for having cramps all year before explaining that he can’t wait to go to Miami and New York to buy “Swaggy P” t-shirts. Farmar told him to tell me the real reason he enjoys New York and Miami. Swaggy laughed, but didn’t budge. Probably smart. End Scene.
The Lakers had an early start the next morning with a 10AM, PST tip-off against the Toronto Raptors, but their pre-game energy didn’t seem to be affected by the time difference.
I was about to be right in the middle of the most entertaining pre-game locker room session I’d been a part of.
In 30 minutes time, I witnessed Xavier Henry throw Nick Young’s jersey in the trash. Young make fun of (and imitate) Xavier Henry on the court, and I mean a full impersonation. Henry get mad at Young for wearing tights. Henry claimed Young copied him. Young claimed Xavier wants to be just like him.
Sacre, who had just finished answering 118 questions about Canada (he’s from Canada, if you didn’t know), was cracking up watching these two go at it, even walked over to the trash can to see what Young’s jersey wound up in, after Xavier threw it. Chris Kaman was smiling, just shaking his head. The locker room was enjoying the show.
The Lakers ended up beating Toronto, and the post-game locker room reminded me of what I had witnessed pre-game.
Henry threw a sweater in Young’s face during an interview. Young retaliated by calling Xavier a bully. Wes Johnson mimicked Jordan Hill’s “Do what I gotta do” catch phrase into my camera (a video that we, Lakers Nation, created to good naturedly, make fun of Jordan Hill). Ryan Kelly was making fun of Nick Young’s grammatical incorrectness.
Then, we were being kicked out of the Lakers locker room. Lakers had to catch a flight, and I did too.
Next Page: (Click here!) Next Stop, Chicago, I Learn That Nick Young Is A Mess