Mailman remains his harshest critic

0 Comments | Deseret News (Salt Lake City), Jun 8, 2004 | by Tim Buckley Deseret Morning News

LOS ANGELES -- The kids scurried off to school without so much as a wave goodbye. His wife had nothing to say to him Monday, and his brother even less.

The day after Karl Malone scored just four points on 2-of-9 shooting from the field in the Los Angeles Lakers' Game 1 NBA Finals loss to Detroit on Sunday night, even those closest to him did not dare address the Mailman.

"There's not a lot of talking around my house right now," he said. "I don't know if they were avoiding me," Malone added, "or what."

Perhaps it's just that nothing they had to offer could possibly have been as harsh as what Malone thought about himself, so they didn't even bother broaching the subject.

"I'm my worst critic," Malone said.

So even after the former Jazz star held nothing back in his own self-assessment Sunday night -- "I didn't help us out at all," he said then -- Malone stayed the course when meeting with a throng of media members again Monday.

"You take those shots, you have to make those shots," said Malone, who opened Sunday's first half 0-for-5. "And that's something I've always been sure about -- my ability to do that. So, I'll do that (tonight)."

That said, Malone seems to know his place in the Laker offense is nothing like it was in a Utah world that revolved around him.

Here in L.A., a certain rather largesse center named Shaquille O'Neal makes the Lakers go 'round and 'round -- and that's not about to change any time soon, not even with the NBA title that thus far has eluded Malone so close within his reach.

"I'll definitely look for my shot," the NBA's No. 2 all-time scorer said. "But I don't want to get carried away, and not keep Big (O'Neal) involved.

"That's all part of what this season's been about," Malone added. "It's been a season of adjustments, (especially) on the offensive end."

For all but the first of his 18 seasons in Utah, Malone averaged 20-plus points and a ton of touches every game.

Not so here, where he is but a cog in a machine that won three NBA championships in the last four Finals without him.

"I've just got to make sure that when the opportunity is there, to take those opportunities, and make those opportunities," Malone said. "But it's different. It's a different mindset, but it's something I've trained myself all year to do."

As for how he intends to go about seeing his limited shots do start falling again, Malone maintains he will try to revert to a mindset no different at all to the one he played with in Utah.

"I've always got going on the offensive end by playing defense," he said, "so that's something I want to take care of this time."

That wasn't happening Sunday, when Malone's main man -- Pistons power forward Rasheed Wallace -- made three of his four shots from the field.

"I think every shot Rasheed took," Malone said, "I wasn't 20 feet from him."

That must change tonight, Malone suggested, as must much else with the Lakers' approach to Game 2.

"We can see an urgency, because we don't want to go there (to Detroit) down 0-2," he said. "We realize that, so hopefully our mindset will be to come out and get one ball game.

"You never want to get out of a series quick," Malone added, "so we'll just come out with the intensity on our floor that we need."

That attitude seems must sound sufficiently reassuring to Shaq, who -- like not just Malone's own family, but also all of his teammates -- intentionally steered clear of the Mailman on Monday.

"I really didn't say anything to him, because I know what type of guy he is," O'Neal said. "I know he's going to come out in this game and give it all he's got and play a little bit harder.

"We know what we have to do as a team, and we just have to go out and do it. It's no time to be, 'You need to do this, you need to do that.' We know what we have to do. I know I have to get up in the morning and put my underwear on first. I don't need people to tell me that."

Nor does Malone.

"I don't think my teammates have to say anything to me," he said. "I think they know who I am, and I'm my worst critic. Always have been."

E-mail: tbuckley@desnews.com