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Karl vs. Karl: A dream nears the scorer's table

Nuggets coach, son might face off today

By Chris Tomasson, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Published January 21, 2008 at 12:45 a.m.

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Nuggets coach George Karl and his son, Coby, could become the third father and son in NBA history to compete against each other.

Photo by Evan Semon / The Rocky

Nuggets coach George Karl and his son, Coby, could become the third father and son in NBA history to compete against each other.

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Since last summer, there has been plenty of trash talking in the Karl household. Actually, most of it has been one-sided.

Since rookie guard Coby Karl, son of Nuggets coach George Karl, signed with the Los Angeles Lakers, he hasn't hesitated to remind his father that Lakers coach Phil Jackson has a 9-0 lead in championship rings.

"I always bust his (chops) because I know he's a little sensitive he hasn't won a championship yet," Coby said.

As far as a Karl retort, there really hasn't been one. He's too proud having seen his son gain entry in the NBA Encyclopedia.

"It's the greatest gift the game of basketball has given me," Karl said.

The giving might continue tonight at the Staples Center. If Coby plays against Denver, Karl would become only the third NBA coach to have his son face him.

New Orleans Jazz coach Butch van Breda Kolff met son Jan of the New York Nets on Nov. 9, 1976. Clippers coach Mike Dunleavy Sr. has coached 17 times this decade against Mike Jr., now with Indiana.

"The opportunity to compete against my son is a dream come true," Karl said. "It will be a special situation any time, but the first is going to be more special. . . . It's a feeling very few fathers will ever have."

Coby appears a lock to be active when the teams meet for the final time this season, since three Lakers players are out because of injuries.

"To just grow up around my dad and being (around the NBA), to play against him would be something," Coby said. "It would be surreal."

Coby was hopeful of facing his dad Nov. 29 but was sent the day before to the NBA Development League's Los Angeles D-Fenders. Coby said the "timing was kind of interesting," but it "turned out to be the best thing."

Coby averaged 18.3 points in 10 NBADL games before being recalled Dec. 24. In seven Lakers games this season, he has averaged 1.6 points.

It wasn't long ago even dad thought Coby's best bet would be playing in Europe. In March 2006, Coby's junior season at Boise State, he had surgery to remove a cancerous thyroid, and he had another surgery a year later.

When Coby was growing up and with Karl divorced from Coby's mother, Cathy, father and son sometimes had their differences. But, with Karl having been diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2005, the two's illnesses, both now under control, helped bring them closer.

"No one even before the cancer thought Coby would play in the NBA," Karl said.

Coby went undrafted in June. But he was undeterred, much like he has been with his cancer, which he controls by taking daily thyroid replacement medicine.

"It was a scare at first for me, but once I understood it, I knew what I had to do to overcome it," Coby said.

Coby signed a $427,163 minimum deal with the Lakers, only $100,000 guaranteed. Before that, Karl said Denver was Coby's "insurance policy."

"(Nuggets executive) Mark (War- kentien) and I talked about it being best to let him earn it on his own," Karl said. "Come October, if he's in trouble and doesn't have a place, he has a place."

But Coby made the Lakers. When his contract became guaranteed for the season two weeks ago, Karl called to thank Lakers general manager Mitch Kupchak.

"Mitch said, 'George, there's no charity. He's earned it,' " Karl said.

With that in mind, it won't be charity if Jackson plays Coby tonight. Coby is the first to say that, with nine title rings, Jackson must know what he's doing.

tomassonc@RockyMountainNews.com

Nuggets at Lakers

* When: 8:30 MST tonight.

* Where: Staples Center, Los Angeles.

* TV/radio: TNT; KKFN-AM (950).

* Starting lineups

Denver (24-15) Pos. Ht. Pts.

15 Carmelo Anthony F 6-8 25.8

43 Linas Kleiza F 6-8 11.1

23 Marcus Camby C 6-11 9.2

3 Allen Iverson G 6-0 27.1

25 Anthony Carter G 6-2 8.0

Coach:

George Karl

Los Angeles (26-12) Pos. Ht. Pts.

4 Luke Walton F 6-8 7.6

7 Lamar Odom F 6-10 13.5

54 Kwame Brown C 6-11 5.3

24 Kobe Bryant G 6-6 27.7

2 Derek Fisher G 6-1 12.1

Coach:

Phil Jackson * Injuries: Denver - F Eduardo Najera (hyperextended right elbow) is probable; F Kenyon Martin (staph infection) is questionable; G Chucky Atkins (sports hernia) and F Nene (testicular tumor surgery) are out. Los Angeles - G Sasha Vujacic (back spasms) is probable; C Andrew Bynum (left knee), C Chris Mihm (right ankle bursitis) and F Vladimir Radmanovic (sprained right ankle) are out.

* Notes: Najera wouldn't guarantee playing, because his elbow "feels worse" after he felt a pop in it Saturday during a 111-108 win against Minnesota. . . . Martin, who has missed three straight games, wouldn't speculate on his chances of returning. . . . The teams meet for the final time this season. . . . The Lakers had won seven straight until losing to Phoenix on Thursday.