Malone Has It All Sewn Up

An hour before game time Sunday, Karl Malone sat in a folding chair in the visitors’ locker room, quietly darning a sock.

He pulled pale blue thread through a hole above the heel, repairing the only socks he’ll wear this season.

Kobe Bryant stood over him for a moment.

“C’mon, man,” he said with a sigh and a smile. “Country.”

True enough, somewhere in a childhood spent in Summerfield, La., and at the knee of his mother, Malone learned to sew. He said he fixed his own clothes and, despite enough locker-room personnel to tend to such matters, still does.

A female security guard standing nearby leaned in and said, “Oh, Karl. Someone take a picture.”

He smiled. The curiosity continued. A local columnist arrived and said, “Sewing?”

He said, “Yeah. I’m not knitting. There’s a difference.”

It is his practice to wear the same socks and athletic supporter for an entire season, a habit that brings mending responsibilities.

“Buy a new pair of socks?” he said. “No. I had to relax my mind anyway.”

Malone pulled his needle one last time, bit through the thread and twirled it in his fingers.

“I call it a fisherman’s knot,” he said. “It’s the same one I use to tie my hooks.”

*

Malone experienced soreness in his left knee in the second quarter, underwent a cursory examination of the knee at halftime and returned in the second half.

He missed 39 games this season because of a torn medial collateral ligament in his right knee, the first significant injury of his career.

With 5:21 left, the Lakers down 20 and Malone having sat since the end of the third quarter, he went back into the game for Shaquille O’Neal, who’d drawn his fifth foul.

*

Kareem Rush suffered a sprained right ankle in the final seconds and had to be helped from the floor.

Although he predicted he’d play in Tuesday’s game against the Golden State Warriors, the Lakers will examine him again today.

Rush spent time on the injured list this month because of a bone bruise and nerve irritation in the same foot.

*

Phil Jackson said he was not sure when Rick Fox would play again but expected the forward, who has a broken right thumb, to be well enough this week to be included on the playoff roster.

In the meantime, Jackson said, “I look forward to the experimentation we’re going to do.”

Devean George started at small forward for Fox and drew, in his first start in three months, Peja Stojakovic. Bryon Russell was first off the bench, when George was called for a second foul late in the first quarter, and Bryant played minutes at small forward.

Jackson said he would consider playing Luke Walton at small forward, and that members of his coaching staff have pushed for it. Walton is a good passer who has played the position in certain situations, including against the San Antonio Spurs, where the matchup was against Hedo Turkoglu.

*

O’Neal got his third foul with 7:22 left before halftime and 23 seconds later was given a technical foul by referee Tim Donaghy.

When Jackson protested, Donaghy pointed at O’Neal and shouted back, “He started it!”

O’Neal also used a vulgarity during a postgame interview, which was broadcast live. O’Neal was suspended for a game without pay (about $275,000) for cursing twice after a game against Toronto in February.

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If they win their next two games, the Lakers will finish with 56 victories. Of Jackson’s nine NBA titles as a coach, none came after winning less than 56.