Fans Give Rice Warm Welcome

http://www.latimes.com/sports/basketball/nba/lakers/la-sp-clippers16oc...,1,6269

After sitting out Tuesday night's game, his first since signing with
the Clippers, Glen Rice is expected to play against the Phoenix Suns
today in an exhibition at Staples Center.

Though he went unused Tuesday, Rice did not go unnoticed.


In the fourth quarter of the Clippers' 128-107 victory over the Dallas
Mavericks at Staples Center, fans began chanting his name, urging
Coach Mike Dunleavy to put him into the game. Seated on the bench,
Rice beamed.

"Wasn't that great?" he said Wednesday. "It was a great feeling. When
you get fans chanting your name like that it's extra special, and you
want to go out there and do something extra special for them as well."

Rice encountered a far different reception three years ago, when the
6-foot-8 swingman returned to Staples Center for the first time after
being traded from the Lakers to the New York Knicks in a
sign-and-trade deal.

Then, in a game against the Clippers, he was roundly booed.

Though he had helped the Lakers to the first of three consecutive NBA
championships in June 2000, Rice was not fondly remembered, apparently
owing to his wife Cristina's ill-timed public criticism of Laker Coach
Phil Jackson during the finals against the Indiana Pacers.

"It was a surprise," he said this week of the booing. "I didn't really
understand why. When I left the Lakers, it wasn't by choice. They
didn't offer me anything. They pretty much just turned me loose, which
was fine. It was their choice."

Rice said the message Tuesday came in loud and clear.

"You'd be lying if you said you didn't hear that," he said, smiling.
"I heard it, and I want them to know it did not go unappreciated."