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http://espn.go.com/los-angeles/nba/story/_/id/8875019/los-angeles-lakers-hold-team-meeting-air-grievances
MEMPHIS -- In order to move forward and turn around their disappointing season, the Los Angeles Lakers attempted to let go of their past frustrations with a team meeting Wednesday.
Prior to the team's shootaround in preparation for the Lakers' game against the Memphis Grizzlies, coach Mike D'Antoni invited members of the team to air their grievances, according to a team source.
Several players spoke up, including Steve Nash and Kobe Bryant, the 17-year veterans who make up the Lakers' backcourt. Bryant asked Dwight Howard if he was bothered by playing alongside him, according to the Los Angeles Times, which first reported the meeting.
"I hope it is (a positive thing)," D'Antoni told reporters before the game. "That's the purpose of just trying to move forward, and hopefully it is. We'll see. We're in a rut right now, so the time to stand up, draw a line in the sand would be now."
Bryant acknowledged he could be "hard to play with," according to the Times, and challenged Howard to speak up if he had a problem with it.
Howard was "despondent" and did not offer much of a reply to Bryant, according to a team source.
While a coaching change and injuries throughout the roster have contributed to the Lakers' 17-24 record at the season's halfway point, another major factor in their difficulties has been the lack of rhythm between Howard and Bryant.
Following the Lakers' 95-83 loss to the Chicago Bulls on Monday, Howard complained to reporters about getting only five shots, while Bryant was 7 of 22.
Howard apologized for his comments in Chicago after Wednesday's shootaround, calling them "immature."
One example of the rocky relationship between the two Western Conference All-Star starters, according to a league source, was a game this season when Howard harped to a teammate about the disparity between his and Bryant's shots while sitting on the bench. The teammate called Bryant over so Howard could tell it to Bryant's face, but Howard refused to speak up.
"Obviously our problems were the chemistry was not clicking," D'Antoni said. "You try, 'OK, I'll push that guy, I'll pull that guy,' and you hope things overcome that and it didn't. It didn't. Now you get down to brass tactics and open your heart up and let everything be raw and see if we can solve some of the problems or the issues and just go forward."
Lakers forward Antawn Jamison, a 15-year veteran who said he has "seen it all" in his time in the league, said this could be a make-or-break point for L.A.
"Now we're at the wall and we're going to find a way to help each other over that wall, or we're going to let the wall push us back even farther," Jamison said.
D'Antoni said it's an issue of the entire team coming together.
"We've got an All-Star team out there," D'Antoni said. "Have you ever watched an All-Star Game? It's God-awful because everybody gets the ball, they go 1-on-1 and then they play no defense. That's our team. That's us. We're an All-Star team and we haven't learned there's a pecking order. There's the one guy, the two guy, the three guy and the four guy. It might not be the same guy every night, but somebody has got to accept being the fourth guy. If you've been the first guy all your life, that's hard to accept. That's what happens in All-Star (Games) and that's what happened with us. Like I said, with today's meeting, hopefully we've overcome a little bit of that. I hope. We'll see."
Added Jamison: "Let's just have fun, man, and enjoy this journey and just pull for each other and realize that this is a special team. The first half of this season has been an embarrassment. We've been the laughingstock of the NBA. So, let's turn that embarrassment into one of the best stories in sports history and turn things around."
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