레이커스가 스퍼스를 물리치고 서부 파이널에 선착했죠.
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오늘 드빈 조지가 AP 통신과 인터뷰를 했습니다. 그는 킹스가 올라왔으면 좋겠다는 뜻을 밝혔습니다.
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이유는 몇 가지 있죠. 드빈 조지는 미네소타 출신입니다. 상대팀이 되어 고향 미네소타에 가는 게 좀 안 내킬 겁니다. 그리고 홈 어드밴티지 문제도 있구요. 미네소타가 올라온다면 첫 게임을 원정 경기로 시작해야 되지만, 새크라멘토가 올라온다면 홈인 스테이플스 센터에서 경기를 시작할 수 있으니까요. 또한 미네소타에는 친구 마크 매드슨이 있습니다.
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Devean George not interested in going home
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By JOHN NADEL, AP Sports Writer
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May 17, 2004
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EL SEGUNDO, Calif. (AP) -- The heck with going home to Minneapolis and spending time with family and friends. Los Angeles Lakers forward Devean George hopes the Sacramento Kings eliminate the Minnesota Timberwolves from the playoffs.
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``I would rather play the team we have homecourt advantage against,"" George said Monday, expressing a different point of view from several of his teammates who say it doesn"t matter who the Lakers face in the Western Conference finals.
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Shooting for their fourth championship in five years, the Lakers earned a berth in the conference finals Saturday night by beating defending champion San Antonio 88-76 to eliminate the Spurs.
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The Lakers became the eighth NBA team to win a best-of-seven series after losing the first two by winning the final four.
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The Timberwolves and Kings play Game 7 of their series Wednesday night in Minnesota. The conference finals begin Friday night at the Target Center if the Timberwolves win or in Los Angeles if the Kings advance.
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``If we can avoid having to steal a (road) game every series, I think that would be better,"" George said.
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The Spurs had homecourt advantage, but the Lakers won Game 5 in San Antonio 74-73 thanks to Derek Fisher"s 18-foot jumper as time expired.
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Lost in the postgame shuffle was that George scored a career playoff-high 16 points.
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George grew up in Minneapolis and attended Augsburg, Minn., College before the Lakers made him their first-round draft choice in 1999.
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``I was a basketball fan. I liked the Timberwolves when I was coming up,"" he said.
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George"s NBA career has been up-and-down.
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Lately, it"s been up.
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The 6-foot-8, 240-pounder regained his starting job from injured Rick Fox in Game 4 of the Lakers" first-round series against Houston, and totaled 26 points in the last two games against the Spurs after getting only 37 in the first nine games of the postseason.
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George shot 11-of-22 including 8-of-16 from 3-point range in the first nine games and has gone 8-of-13 including 6-of-11 from beyond the arc since then.
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What changed?
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``Having more opportunities, more shots,"" he replied. ``Throughout the series, I don"t think I shot the ball poorly. I had more attempts (the last two games). My confidence was never really down.""
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The 26-year-old George realizes he"s starting with four of the best players in the game -- Shaquille O"Neal, Kobe Bryant, Karl Malone and Gary Payton.
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``I"m the low man on the totem pole,"" George said with a smile. ``I was watching the other day, they were saying the guys out there on the court were the four studs and Devean George. That"s the way it is.""
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The Lakers went through a light practice Monday. Bryant was sent home early with a sore throat.
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``It was tough to be here,"" Fisher said, alluding to the Lakers not knowing who they"re playing next. ``This time of year, it"s about having a purpose. It"s tough to focus the same way. We"ll see what happens Wednesday night.""
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The Lakers have had a much more intense rivalry with Sacramento than Minnesota in recent years. That rivalry reached a new level two years ago when Los Angeles eliminated Sacramento in seven games in the conference finals.
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The Lakers beat the Timberwolves 4-2 in the first round of the playoffs last year.
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``I would think it would be a lot of fun to play the Kings again,"" Fisher said. ``But Minnesota earned the right to have homecourt advantage in Game 7. We have an old friend over there in Mark Madsen.""
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Madsen played for the Lakers for three years before joining the Timberwolves this season.
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``I"m sure the fans would love to see us play the Kings,"" Fisher said.
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Malone doesn"t plan to watch the Kings-Timberwolves game.
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``I don"t really care,"" he said. ``Whatever"s going to happen is going to happen.""
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He"s more interested in having five full days of rest between series.
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``We"ve earned the right to have some time off,"" he said. ``Hopefully we"ll use it to our advantage.""
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The Lakers didn"t practice Sunday, and will take Tuesday off as well.
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Updated on Monday, May 17, 2004 6:39 pm EDT
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어디선가는 디빈 조지로도 봤었는데요 저는
제가 알기로는 데빈 졸지~가 정석입니다..
미네소타에는 친구도 하나 있고 외계인 집단들도 있지여. -_-;;; 킹스엔 이갈고 기다리는 적들이 포진해 있고... 누구랑 만나던 쉬운 상대들은 아닐듯...
전 항상 그냥 데이븐 조지라고.. ㅎㅎㅎ 드빈 조지 하길래.. 무슨 트레이너인지 알았다는..
죠지도 정말 잘헀죠.....
한명재 캐스터는 끝까지 디비언 조지라고 하더군요..ㅋㅋ