Sprewell Would Stay If Carlesimo Would Go
Latrell Sprewell would like to be a Golden State Warrior again, providing P.J. Carlesimo isn’t coach.
“I’d love to be back here if he wasn’t here,” Sprewell said Tuesday in a meeting with San Francisco Bay area reporters.
“I’ve never had a problem with anyone else, not even the assistant coaches,” he said.
Sprewell was suspended from the team for attacking Carlesimo during a practice session.
He admitted Sunday on CBS’ “60 Minutes” that he had his hands around the coach’s neck. But he said the marks on Carlesimo’s neck were made by his nails and proved he wasn’t choking the coach.
Sprewell attacked Carlesimo - known as a strict taskmaster - at practice Dec. 1. Two days later, the Warriors terminated the remaining three years on his $32 million contract. The next day, the NBA suspended Sprewell for a year.
But arbitrator John Feerick ruled the dual penalties were too harsh. He reinstated the contract and reduced the suspension to the end of the season, which will come to 68 games, an NBA record for a suspension not drug-related.
Sprewell will forfeit $6.4 million in salary for this season.
“My problem is with P.J,” Sprewell said Tuesday. “I hope the Warriors make some kind of change, or they’re not going to be very good in the future.”
Mavs tickets hot item
Dallas Mavericks fans will have to pay the price to get a glimpse of Chicago Bulls star Michael Jordan.
Some individuals are asking up to $1,200 for a courtside ticket to tonight’s Mavericks game against the Bulls at Reunion Arena.
Ticket brokers say nobody will pay that much, but they’re asking $350 to $650 for a seat in the lower bowl, and at least $100 upstairs. Tickets originally sold for $9 to $52, with floor seats going for $70.
On the courts
In Salt Lake City, Karl Malone scored 25 points and John Stockton added 16, reaching 15,000 for his career, as the Utah Jazz beat the Sacramento Kings for the first time in three tries this season, 110-95.
The win clinches a playoff berth for the Jazz.
Shaquille O’Neal scored 33 points and the Los Angeles Lakers tied a season-high by making 40 free throws in a 121-107 victory over the Portland Trail Blazers.
Lakers coach Del Harris earned his 200th regular-season win as a Lakers coach.