playoff report viii May 24, 2008

Posted by: flea (Noah Graham/NBAE/Getty Images) well last night was a great laker night for me it started early in the day when i woke up, thinking about playing the star spangled banner on my trumpet at the laker game the one other time i did it by myself, in '95 i think?...anyways, i walked out to center court, they introduced me and then the fear struck, there i was all alone with my trumpet, shaking like an autumn leaf now, you might think that me, having played many shows in front of hundreds of thousands of people, would be used to performing like that well, firstly, i usually have my buddies with me, but even more than that, there is something about being at a sporting event where people are there to see the game, not flea playing trumpet, and it can be pretty lonely out there in center court all alone, and it is a simple song, yet kind of hard to play, there are a lot of long tones where a little glitch is noticed, and very few people do it well anyways i froze up and i was not too happy with the way i played, i got through it, but i was stiff so, this time i was well aware of that possibility so i woke up thinking about it so later in the day i met with some pals and we drove down to the game got there an hour early watched the players warm up hangin with my pal petey wheatstraw which i always love to do see who's doing what i saw one one man shooting with the lakers, and i couldn't tell who he was and then i realized it was craig hodges, who played with phil on the bulls in the 80's....90's... that was cool i didnt even know he was a laker coach...i always liked craig hodges even though he was my enemy, he was great shooter it is nice that he has come over to the good side watched sasha drain 3 after 3 after 3 lakers getting loose i saw vic the brick, my favorite laker reporter, we talked for a minute, he is a gem of a man, an l.a. treasure 'the lakers are the bamboo! they bend but do not break!!!" the thing i really like about vic is, he knows it is not just his job to report the lakers games objectively as he sees them but to bring the city together under an umbrella of lakerdom, and this is a valuable thing anyone (with varying degrees of accuracy, i am the only one who is ever 100% right) can say what happened, but when we all come together with hope and optimism... its great!!! shortly after that i was summoned to go do the anthem i went into a little room and warmed up my horn(a trumpet is a beautiful incredible invention) when i was in there warming up, i thought of dizzy gillespie and i said a little prayer and i remembered when i met dizzy when i was a kid and how nice he was to me and how cool the tradition of trumpet playing was i recommend to everyone some trumpet players that i will never be close to as good as, and who mastered technique and then got out of the way and let god speak through their horns clifford brown fats navarro kenny dorham miles davis dizzy gillespie freddie hubbard lee morgan booker little and there is a young trumpet player i really love called nicholas payton who made a record a few years ago called 'sonic trance' that is dope so i warmed up then they came and got me and i stood on the side of the court and watched the final warm ups and i wondered if when i walked out there i would get struck by the fear again i looked into the stands and is saw my brother anthony kiedis sitting there and he gave me a look like"why be scared?....breathe deep go inside and let it flow from within" so anyways the players lined up in retrospect i am so glad i was facing the lakers and not the spurs when i played i gave thought to kareem who i knew was there and who i know is an astute jazz fan and knows the difference between a good and bad trumpet sound..... and they introduced me and i played it was fine, i did fine, i am no clifford brown, but i'm working on it! afterwards, i was excited and found myself jumping around screaming GO LAKERS! like i always do but this time i was at center court hahahahah! i slapped 5 with some of the players, that was cool kobe bryant's game face is an intense, deep, and beautiful thing..... then the game started and to start off the game the lakes jumped out to a 5 point lead then a man comes up to my seat with two tickets and says to me "these are for you from harris from vip tickets" whoooaaaah! coutside seats! thanks harris!!!! i was so excited and me and pete ran over there and sat courtside which i haven't done since the mid nineties when my record co used to give them to me sometimes me and pete had the best time!!! but beyond that the lakers just played with great intensity and precision they were so on it what a great time to be a laker fan words can not describe how good kobe bryant is he is leading that team with tenacity and they are all stepping up lamar was on it firing on all cylinders, blocking shots, scoring inside and out, crashing the boards jordan farmar had a great game including a mind boggling block on ime udoka who had gotten away on a fast break (kinda like tayshaun's block of reggie miller a few years back!) fish was the pillar of stability they played like a team and crushed the spurs tim duncan was great, he is great, but the lakers are a level above right now sasha just shutting down ginobli and hitting his shots too now, i know that the hornets whupped the spurs the first two games at home and ended up losing in 7 the san antonio spurs are no joke and can play some serious basketball when in their rhythm and they are the defending champs this series is far from over, the lakers have to stay focused it will take a lot of focus and effort to finish off the spurs and san antonio is gonna be hostile like an ornery junkyard dog but right now it looks like they have no answer for the lakers who are at the top of their game take heed go lakers

May 24, 2008 4:38 PM EDT