Time for Afflalo to Take Break

UCLA Coach Ben Howland made his intentions very clear Saturday afternoon after the Bruins had beaten Oregon State. Most of his starters will be given the next two days off. They are not to be found in the gym. Even if he has to lock Pauley Pavilion.

That means you, Arron Afflalo.

Afflalo, who has been in a shooting slump, has ignored such warnings in the past. Extremely dedicated, and frustrated when his shot deserts him, Afflalo has scheduled his own practices on at least two occasions.

After he bruised his back and hip at Arizona State, he ignored Howland’s instructions to take a few days off and sneaked into the gym on a Monday to conduct a furious workout by himself. And after UCLA lost to West Virginia at Pauley on Jan. 21, Afflalo returned to the court to shoot even as the lights went out and the chairs were being folded up.

But this time, Afflalo, who made up for his lack of offense Saturday by playing his usual in-your-face defense and pulling down a career-high 10 rebounds, promised to behave.

“I do need some rest,” he said. “That would be the best thing for me. I am not even going to sneak into a park. I need to get my head together.”

Afflalo concedes that part of his problem is that opposing defenses have keyed on him in recent games after he began the season with a hot shooting hand.

“That’s part of it,” he said. “But it’s also partly mechanical. With the shots I have been taking, I have not let the game come to me.”

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After sitting out eight games because of torn cartilage in the back of his left shoulder along with tendinitis in his right knee, Cedric Bozeman returned on the Oregon trip to play 18 minutes Thursday at Eugene and 25 minutes Saturday at Corvallis.

“I am a little beat up,” Bozeman said after Saturday’s game. “My shoulder is a little sore. My knee is a little sore. But though I may not be 100%, you guys will still see me out there.”