Phills' Death Shakes Former Teammate Rice

Phills’ Death Shakes Former Teammate Rice

By TIM KAWAKAMI

Jan. 13, 2000 12 AM PT

Glen Rice, who played with Bobby Phills at Charlotte, said before Wednesday’s game that he was still in shock over Phills’ tragic death in a car crash hours earlier, and that he couldn’t believe he saw Phills only last week, when the Hornets played at Staples Center.

“We were close--Bobby was the type of individual that was hard not be close to,” Rice said quietly. “He was a very friendly, very outgoing, very caring individual . . .”

Rice said he had driven that same road many times returning from a Hornet workout.

“That’s really freakish--that’s a road, former players like myself, we’ve all driven down time after time, again and again,” Rice said.

“He was one of the players you could honestly say that thought of other people before he thought of himself, always put other people in front of himself.”

Rice said both he and Phills had recently had babies, and that the two families planned to get together when the Lakers traveled to Charlotte later this season.

“When we played against him in L.A., after the game I wished him the best of luck for the rest of the season, and also in that game he twisted his ankle,” Rice said.

“And the last words I told him were, ‘Hey, take care of that ankle.’ And now I won’t be able to say anything else to him again. . . .

“We talked about also when we go down to play Charlotte, getting together. . . . And it’s going to be sad, he’s not going to be there.”

Laker Coach Phil Jackson did not flatly rule out the possibility of his team winning 70 games--but said it probably wouldn’t happen this year.

“This team has potential,” Jackson said. “Maybe not this year. Maybe in the future . . . they’ll eventually do that. It takes so many lucky things . . . like health and scheduling. . . .

“They’re not quite ready yet. They’re not fully mature in their game and . . . they’ve had some measure of success, but we’re not riding that calm confidence that you get when you’ve won a lot and know how to do it and how to finish games off. . . .

“Sometimes, it’s difficult for us to figure out how to put it together to win. And in that search, we’re going to lose some games.”

Laker forward Robert Horry suffered a broken nose in the fourth quarter when Tim Thomas spun with the ball and planted an elbow directly in Horry’s face. Horry is listed as day to day and is expected to be fitted with a plastic mask.

“I wasn’t as quick as I usually am,” Horry said. “Usually, when a guy does that, I get out of the way. He did it so quick, I couldn’t get out of the way.”

TRIPLE PLAYS / The Big 3

Shaquille O’Neal, Kobe Bryant and Glen Rice have been the driving force for the Lakers’ success. How they fared:

O’NEAL

*--*

Wed. Season 27 Points 27.9 10 Rebounds 14.5 3 Assists 3.4

*--*

BRYANT

*--*

Wed. Season 22 Points 23.1 4 Rebounds 5.8 5 Assists 4.1

*--*

RICE

*--*