World Peace says he likely won't play Game 4
Los Angeles Lakers forward Metta World Peace told reporters after Friday night's loss to the San Antonio Spurs that he will probably not play on Sunday.
World Peace went scoreless with no rebounds and one assist in 17 minutes of Friday's defeat. He was benched in the second half.
He had fluid drained from a cyst in his left leg the morning of the game, but it is reportedly not related to the knee surgery he had in March.
The forward believes sitting out will give the team a better chance to win Sunday and keep the series going. San Antonio leads 3-0.
"I wasn't effective," World Peace said. "There's no sense when we got guys that can win, why not let them win. We'll win Sunday, then I'll be better and then go to San Antonio (for Game 5 on Tuesday) and I'll be really good that day."
World Peace averaged nine points and 5.5 rebounds in the first two games of the series and shot just 31.8 percent.
World Peace said he agreed with coach Mike D'Antoni's decision to bench him for the second half. He had not spoken to D'Antoni about not wanting to play Sunday.
"He played as hard as he could before he drained his leg," D'Antoni said of the first two games of the series. "He couldn't play the second half (Friday), and we couldn't put him in."
The Lakers were without Kobe Bryant (Achilles), Steve Nash (hamstring), Steve Blake (hamstring) and Jodie Meeks (ankle) on Friday.
