HoopsHype.com Rumors

Metta World Peace: I remember Jason Collins in HS and college. Both brothers always treated me nice. We had the same path to the league and we still here Twitter @MettaWorldPeace

Jason Collins, Metta World Peace 

Metta World Peace: If Dwayne Wade is hurt I see the Clippers winning a Championship in 2013. Twitter @MettaWorldPeace

Los Angeles Clippers, Los Angeles Lakers, Miami Heat, Dwyane Wade, Metta World Peace 

Metta World Peace: Charles Barkley never won so it is hard for him to understand what it takes to win. Twitter @MettaWorldPeace

Charles Barkley, Metta World Peace 

Mike Trudell: Metta World Peace said he'd like to be back with the Lakers next season, but declined to talk about specifics w/his player option/contract. Twitter @LakersReporter

Los Angeles Lakers, Metta World Peace 

Mike Bresnahan: Metta on J. Collins: "Be free to act as you want as long as it’s not violent. I came here in a Cookie Monster shirt b/c I wanted to." Twitter @Mike_Bresnahan

Los Angeles Lakers, Washington Wizards, Jason Collins, Metta World Peace 

Dave McMenamin: Metta World Peace on whether he thinks he'll be a Laker next year: "Definitely" Twitter @mcten

Los Angeles Lakers, Metta World Peace 

Mike Bresnahan: Metta World Peace on whether he'll exercise $7.7-million player option w/ Lakers next year (a no-brainer): "You never know what can happen." Twitter @Mike_Bresnahan

Los Angeles Lakers, Metta World Peace 

Kamenetzky Brothers: Metta World Peace wore a Cookie Monster T-shirt to his exit interview. Of course he did. AK Twitter @KamBrothers

Los Angeles Lakers, Metta World Peace 

Metta World Peace: Andrew Goudlock is amazing. I always told him that he was the second best scorer on the team. I told him that when he was a rookie. Twitter @MettaWorldPeace

Los Angeles Lakers, Andrew Goudelock, Metta World Peace 

Metta World Peace: When Andrew is in shape , there is absolutely no one who can guard him. Andrew is the best scorer in this series. #Lakerenergy Twitter @MettaWorldPeace

Los Angeles Lakers, Andrew Goudelock, Metta World Peace 

"We're going to pull out this win and I'm hoping that my knee will be ready for Game 5," World Peace said in an interview with CBS Sports Radio on Saturday. "And then we could do some special stuff [in] Game 5 and push for a Game 6. ... You've got to keep pushing and that's what you're seeing from the Lakers. Everybody's continuing to give 100 percent. We're not giving up; absolutely not." CBSSports.com

Los Angeles Lakers, Injuries, Metta World Peace 

Ken Berger: Metta World Peace on @CBSSportsRadio: "Sometimes we didn't let the coaches coach, and sometimes the coaches didn't coach." Twitter @KBergCBS

Los Angeles Lakers, Coaching, Metta World Peace 

Mike Trudell: Metta World Peace (knee), Steve Nash (back, etc), Jodie Meeks (ankle) and Steve Blake (hamstring) are all out for Game 4. Twitter @LakersReporter

Los Angeles Lakers, Steve Nash, Steve Blake, Injuries, Jodie Meeks, Metta World Peace 

Calling his play "bummish" and "noneffective" in the Los Angeles Lakers' 120-89 loss to the San Antonio Spurs on Friday, Metta World Peace said he "probably" will not play in Sunday's Game 4. "I was the weak link tonight," World Peace said after going 0-for-6 from the field with no rebounds and one assist in 17 scoreless first-half minutes and not playing in the second half. World Peace said his sitting out will give the Lakers a better chance to extend the series and give himself more time to get healthy. "Then these guys will be at full strength," World Peace said. "We'll win on Sunday." ESPN.com

Los Angeles Lakers, Injuries, Metta World Peace 

Still, World Peace, who returned to the lineup earlier this month just 12 days after surgery to repair a torn meniscus in his left knee and helped L.A. secure a playoff berth once Kobe Bryant went down with a season-ending Achilles tear, blamed himself for Friday. "I wasn't helping the team," World Peace said. "Mentally, I was there, but it didn't translate. Physically I wasn't, but mentally I was there. I was trying to hustle a little bit, but Coach saw me dragging. Coach wanted a shot to win. He made a good choice. Collectively, we're going to hang in this thing together and get past this point. "I really believe if I didn't play tonight, it would have been a faster-paced game for us. Nobody would have been dragging. Everybody would have been 100 percent. It was like 5-on-4." ESPN.com

Los Angeles Lakers, Injuries, Metta World Peace 

Jeff McDonald: “I guess he’s too good for Metta World Peace.” -- Metta World Peace, on why the Dalai Lama won't return his direct messages on Twitter. Twitter @JMcDonald_SAEN

Los Angeles Lakers, Twitter, Metta World Peace, Dalai Lama 

Fran Blinebury: Metta on Kobe tweets: "Kobe should tweet...The whole time, everybody possession. Critique us, criticize us, chew us out." #SpursvLakers Twitter @franblinebury

Los Angeles Lakers, San Antonio Spurs, Kobe Bryant, Twitter, Metta World Peace 

Dave McMenamin: More about that Lakers team dinner on Friday. They went to Cut in Beverly Hills. Dwight, Pau and Metta addressed the group Twitter @mcten

Los Angeles Lakers, Kobe Bryant, Pau Gasol, Metta World Peace 

When asked how scary the Lakers are right now after Wednesday's win, World Peace didn't analyze the game or his play. Instead, he channeled his inner ghost. "Very scary right now, like Halloween, woooooooo," he said. "Very scary. Boo. Boo. We here. We here." Is that a direct message to the Spurs? "No, it's Halloween time. Boo," World Peace said. "I love Halloween. I love candy." Los Angeles Times

Los Angeles Lakers, San Antonio Spurs, Metta World Peace 

But as for this widely-held assumption that they wanted to face the ailing San Antonio Spurs, that they saw this oldie- but-goodie team as vulnerable and thus fought even harder to outlast the Houston Rockets in that overtime game on Wednesday that secured this matchup and got them out of facing top-seed Oklahoma City? That's where the boasting came to an end. "No, no no no no no," World Peace blubbered, his head shaking and eyebrows raised. "Not when you've got (Spurs coach Gregg) Popovich – uh uh uh uh uh. He's amazing. That coach is something else. I just know he draws up plays where he could have five old ladies after they eat 14 boxes of chocolate chip cookies. He'll put them on the court, and they'll win. That's how good Popovich is." USA Today Sports

Los Angeles Lakers, San Antonio Spurs, Gregg Popovich, Metta World Peace