How far was Gary Payton from losing it last week!

Date: May 8th, 2004
Place: Laker's locker room
The Man: The Glove

"You all can blame me for everything, I don’t care. Whatever. Blame me. I could care less. I’m going to go home and play with my kids. Ain’t no problem."

"This is a team game. If we focus on stopping him, we can do that. You can put it on me, whatever you want to do. I can be the scapegoat. Put it on all five of us, then. Go ahead do what you want to do. It's Gary Payton vs. San Antonio."

“It’s just like they play defense, they help. That’s just the way we have to play basketball, too. If we all work together, if we played the way we’re supposed to, we’ll win.

"Rumsfeld thinks he has it tough, I have to do this every day."

Date: May 18th, 2004
Place: ESPN Studios
The Man: The Glove

Question: Last week, you were 0-2 against the defending champions and Parker was going strong. How far were you from losing it?

The Glove: "No, I was never close to losing it man.". (Touches nose)

Another possible case of the Pinocchio effect?