Metta World Peace Claims He Had Become ‘Bored’ With Playing Defense

Metta World Peace finally broke out emotionally and basketball-wise during the hard-fought Lakers/Clippers game two nights ago. He says that his struggles are the result of general boredom. From the LA Times: It turns out Metta World Peace’s career-low scoring numbers have nothing to do with his poor shooting stroke. It turns out World Peace’s declining defense has nothing to do with his age (32) and decreasing lateral quickness. It turns out World Peace’s conditioning has nothing to do with arriving to training camp out of shape. It has to do with one thing and one thing only. ‘I got bored with defense because it was so easy for me to stop people over the years,’ World Peace said after Thursday’s practice. ‘I just got bored with it.’ That is, until the Lakers’ 96-91 victory Wednesday over the Clippers where he played a large part in securing the win. World Peace made late-game plays, including a three-pointer that gave the Lakers an 87-82 lead, a feed that set up an Andrew Bynum dunk and a stuff on Chris Paul in the lane. If the explanation sounds absurd, well it is. But the most unlikliest of sources agrees with World Peace’s logic. ‘It’s about finding an edge,’ Lakers guard Kobe Bryant said. ‘You have to find an edge. It’s not something that’s far fetched. He’s a great defensive player. Sometimes it comes too easy. Offensively for me, things are really easy sometimes. The game feels boring. You have to find an edge. You have to find something that is going to push you.'”