Charles F. Gardner of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports that the players deny being distracted by events off the court and say they just had a bad game.

"I play basketball; I don't care about distractions," said Payton, who did not score in the first three quarters Saturday and finished with eight points and a team-high five turnovers in Milwaukee's 109-96 loss to the Nets.

"I had a bad game, and that's it. I missed shots, and then I stopped being aggressive. I usually don't do that."

Sam Cassell, Jason Caffey, and Payton surrendered to Toronto police after their Saturday's game 1.

"It wasn't a distraction," said Cassell, who had 16 points and two assists in 30 minutes of Game 1. "What goes on in myself and Gary's personal life, with this altercation, has nothing to do with it. We're not on trial for murder. You all are making a big ordeal out of it."

Payton feels that he and his teammates feel that the media is blowing the whole situation out of proportion.

"My teammates ain't worried about it," Payton told a large group of reporters. "You guys are more worried about it than we are. We didn't do anything. We cooperated with everything, and now it's over with. I don't have anything I can tell you. When you guys see what story comes out and we didn't do anything, then you'll know what happened."

Said Karl: "They had to leave the team some time between yesterday and next week. We thought the best day was (Saturday). That fit the schedule best. We addressed it as a team, just basically saying, 'Don't let it break us apart. It's a family thing.'

Often outspoken Charles Barkley felt that the team was distracted.

"I love Gary Payton," TNT commentator Charles Barkley said. "The one thing about Gary Payton is he is tough as nails. I can see him going back, talking trash. You see now that it is going on, and they had to have known that before the game. He did not play like Gary Payton today. He was definitely distracted."

Kenny Smith, who works with Barkley, agrees.

"It is an obvious distraction," Smith said. "You know you are going to fly from New Jersey to another country and surrender yourself to Toronto's police. . . . You're distracted."

Payton promised the next game would be different.

"I'm not expecting to have the same game I did, either," Payton said. "I'm guaranteeing I won't.

"My teammates said, 'I bet you money Gary won't play the same way on Tuesday.' All they have to do is just come and feed off me. I know what I have to do to adjust and make myself better. I looked at videotapes today and saw what I didn't do. . . . It doesn't mean I've got to score 20 to 25 points. If can get in the lane and get people easy shots and get good defensive stands, I'm being effective for my team."