Knicks' Fields gets to face boyhood idol Bryant By MARC BERMAN

LOS ANGELES — Rookie Landry Fields hung a Kobe Bryant poster in his childhood bedroom in nearby Long Beach. Tonight at Staples Center, the poster comes to life when the Knicks face the Lakers.
Fields, a Rookie of the Year candidate, and Wilson Chandler will take turns guarding Bryant, who praised Fields even if he couldn’t summon his name.
“The young kid from here — he’s playing extremely well,” Bryant said. “Those pieces are kind of where they’re getting most of their energy.”
If Bryant needs to remember Fields’ name tonight, he can look courtside catch Spike Lee, who’ll be wearing Fields’ “6” jersey.

“Lakers and Kobe, that was my motto,” said Fields, who played college ball at Stanford. “It’s definitely going to be an experience finally getting on the court with someone you watched growing up. It should be fun. But we have to take care of business. They’re defending champions and we have to be at our best.”
When told Bryant had praised him, Fields said, “It means a lot. Growing up, he was the whole reason I wanted to work hard. Just his work ethic is something that inspired me and made me work harder. I’m very honored he’d bring me up in a light like that.”

* Lakers coach Phil Jackson couldn’t help taking a minor dig at Mike D’Antoni’s speedball. Asked if D’Antoni’s system can win it all, Jackson chuckled, “It hasn’t yet. But it’s still to be seen. It always seem to be a grind-out game in the playoffs, but someone is going to win it that plays that type of sport. It’s an effective way of playing.” ...


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