01/15/2008 - 20:18
We've Got a Good Team Here
by Tyson Chandler

I was thinking that Golden State and Phoenix were going to be the hardest back-to-back of the season, both kinda having the same style of play, run and gun. I thought it would be tough for us to get both of them. But after we got both of them, it kinda wowed me about the team that we got here.

When you have 22 and 22, you start feeling yourself a little bit. I knew I had it rolling. I felt like I was all over the place during the game, but I didn't know exactly what I had. Then after the game, they told me I had 20 rebounds going into the fourth quarter. Then I was mad at myself. I should have had 30 rebounds or something. It seems like when you know how many rebounds you have, you can't get no more. When you're chasing rebounds, you can't get 'em.

My career high is 23. I know when I'm gonna have a huge rebounding night, because I come out and feel like I'm just getting every one. I want to try and get a 30-rebound game this year.

I went to CP and he told me, "They're playing the screen too high. You're going to be open." I was like, "Just throw it up." As soon as they hedged off of it a little bit, I knew I was gonna be wide open. I knew he was gonna throw it up so I could do something nasty with it.

As soon as I caught it, and I caught it clean, I knew I could bring it back or whatever. Then I dunked it and had a nice little face for the fan (video). He was talking trash only for so long and I was telling him that he wasn't doing anything but hyping me up. If he wanted to be a real fan, he'd better be quiet, because he was hurting his team. So after I got that dunk, I was basically staring at him, letting him know, "I told you to be quiet."

And when you're playing Phoenix, you never can really hold them off for too long. It's probably going to be a close game, because they just score the ball so well. You gotta try to slow them down down the stretch. We made some corrections guarding their pick-and-roll that kinda slowed them down.

ONE BAD LOSS
Then we had like four days off after those games, which wasn't good for us. We were just sitting around and then we had a hard practice the day before. It's kinda tough to manage when you have that many days off, because you're not used to it. So we had a couple of light practices and then a couple of hard practices. When you're not playing every night or a minimum two days off, it seems like you kinda get out of a rhythm. And I think the Lakers caught us out of our rhythm. They jumped on us and then it was too late to get back.

Andrew Bynum is really playing well, but just watching him, I knew it was just a matter of time before he started to step into his own. Because he has all the gifts, it was just a matter of getting the confidence to go along with it. It seems like he's getting confidence. He's obviously playing with one of the best players in the world, if not the best. And he's starting to feed off of that.

He's got a combination of size and strength. He's not stronger than most guys, but he's just so long. He's probably taller than me and he's definitely longer than I am. And you can see he's been working with Kareem, because he's got that hook going. That's a good move for him, because it's almost unstoppable with him being that big.

I was little upset when I saw that he would be out, because I was happy that he was finally playing well. I run into him all the time during the summer, so I was happy to see him playing well. Now, with him going out, that kinda sucks. He's a great young dude and you hate to see a player, especially a young player, go out after playing so well, because you want him to ride the momentum. It sucks and I feel it's really gonna hurt the Lakers.

ANOTHER NICE WIN IN HOUSTON
Yao is so damn big. I knew I was gonna have to come down with a couple of stops. I knew they were gonna come down to him and I knew I had to basically get a stop and a couple of scores for my team somehow. He had been coming into the middle the whole game and turning around for that jump shot. And once he gets it up, he's 7-6, there ain't no stopping it. And he's fading away too, so you don't stand a chance. You gotta get him while the ball is still down low.

So I kinda got my rest up until the fourth quarter when I knew I was gonna have to buckle down and get a stop, and I knew he was gonna bring the ball in front of me. And I got TWO CLEAN STRIPS. I don't care what the fans or anybody else says. I got two clean strips and they led to layups, which helped us get over the hump.

Getting top four in the West is definitely the goal. And my goal right now is to get our coach in the All-Star Game. I think the cutoff is the 3rd. So, we're trying to do as much as possible to get him in the All-Star Game. The top of the West is crowded though. Everybody's just one game apart.

QUALITY TIME
Last night, me and my daughter had a daddy-daughter date. I took her out to dinner, just the two of us. One of my teammates, Marquinhos, opened up a Brazilian restaurant out here. I took her down to it and she kinda slept through our date. So I was a little upset about that. But I guess it's better because I got to eat without her harassing my food.

Then I changed a diaper for the first time in public under the table, which was kinda difficult. The waitress came over and asked me if I needed any help, but I had it locked down. Then we ate and she woke up like 20 minutes before we were ready to leave and started making a mess of everything. Then I was like, "All right, it's time to go."

I change diapers at home. She can wrestle around as much as she wants at home and it's not too bad. But under the table, I'm not that skillful. But I just put her on my leg, changed her, and I was pretty proud of myself. I almost wanted to wave the diaper around like, "Check this out."

We're home for a while now and at times like this, I try to make sure I spend as much time with my family when I have a chance to be home. We're gone so often, you never really get a chance to spend time with the family. And it's really just a tease, because you're home and you're comfortable, and then it's back on the road.

You know I have the Rebound to Rebound program. NBA TV came down and followed a teacher around throughout the day. And I surprised her at her house. They made her think that I was just coming to check out some of the finalists, and I ended up telling her on TV that she had qualified and that we were going to finish the rest of the repairs on her house.

You have a lot of teachers that are in their homes. But a lot of the contractors out here kinda walked off jobs, screwed up jobs, or just got over on people. So you have people that have a $20,000, $30,000 or $50,000 gap. They're living in their house, but it's unfinished. One lady didn't have a floor ... or carpet ... or nothing in the bathroom. The program fixes that gap.

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