For a while, Lakers forward Metta World Peace started bragging during Monday’s practice about his clairvoyance.
World Peace hardly made much of the Clippers (25-6) leading the Western Conference and boasting a 17-game winning streak. He sensed that when he worked out this offseason with several unnamed Clippers.
“I don’t need to watch them,” he said. “I played against the Clippers this summer. I saw the focus they had.”
World Peace, as all Lakers fans, proclaimed he envisoned former teammate Lamar Odom wouldn’t immediately round into form.
“I told them that Lamar would be ready in January,” World Peace said. “I knew he wouldn’t be ready in November or December. He was out of shape.”
Then World Peace bragged on and on about his brilliant “basketball mind” and how no one in the media can match his ability to forsee the future.
A reporter then pointed out that World Peace proclaimed the Lakers would finish 73-9 and beat the Chicago Bulls’ all-time best mark of 72-10 in the 1995-96 season. That didn’t happen. Even when I brought up that fact as soon as the Lakers lost 10 games, World Peace then guaranteed the Lakers could tie the record by winning out the rest of the season.
World Peace blamed the injuries to Steve Nash (fractured left leg), Dwight Howard (back surgery), Pau Gasol (knee tendinitis) and Steve Blake (lower abdomen injury). With the Lakers (15-15) entering tonight’s game against the Philadelphia 76ers (14-17) at Staples Center winners of six of their last seven games, World Peace predicted the Lakers would finish off the last 52 games of the regular season with the same winning percentage (.890) a 73-9 team would over a full season.
“I know it’s not going to register right away,” World Peace said with a smile. “So tomorrow, come back with that percentage and number.”
I told World Peace the percentage right away. A few reporters, including myself, then alerted World Peace the Lakers would have to go 47-5 in the remaining 52 games to finish 62-20.
“That’s no problem,” World Peace said with a laugh, knowing his ridiculous his prediction sounds. “That’s the easiest thing I’ve heard all life.”
Follow L.A. Daily News Lakers beat writer Mark Medina on Twitter. E-mail him at mark.medina@dailynews.com