From Luke Walton’s blog:
At the end of practice today, Phil called us to the middle circle. He said everybody meet in the hotel lobby at 7:30 for a mandatory team bus tonight.
Where are we going? Good question. I have no idea. Maybe we’ll see Mickey at Disney World or visit Epcot, go see a movie. Who knows?
The surprise trips are not uncommon. One time this season, we were in D.C. and we all got on the bus for a shootaround and next thing we know we were touring the city for two hours. Or another time in training camp in Hawaii, everyone thought we were going to practice and instead, Phil took us to a military field and we did paint ball for about four or five hours. I can’t imagine we’re doing paint ball tonight but you never know with Phil. Most of the time when Phil schedules these excursions, they end up pretty cool.
As Walton alluded to, Jackson has always employed alternative means of building camaraderie. He once canceled a shootaround to take the ‘93 Bulls to visit Bill Bradley in the Senate, and directed a bus driver to take his team to the Staten Island Ferry between the first two games of the 1994 Eastern Conference Semifinals. I can’t wait to see if this little motivational ploy has an affect on the Lakers in Game 4.
UPDATE: TLN reports that the Lakers went to see “The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3.”
