‘Bleak’? Not so fast

How many ways could “bleak” be analyzed?

Quite a few, actually.

It became the word of the week when Utah Coach Jerry Sloan grimly summed up the Jazz’s chances against the Lakers in the first round of the playoffs.

“It looks pretty bleak. . . . “ he said after the Lakers thumped the Jazz, 125-112, in the regular-season finale Tuesday.

Not that the Lakers hailed it as the raising of the white flag. A quick check of the NBA schedule showed their playoff series with the Jazz was still starting Sunday at Staples Center.

“He’s just goading his team,” said Lakers Coach Phil Jackson, who knows a thing or two about psychological terminology. “They’re going to compete, without a doubt.”

Derek Fisher, who played for Sloan while with Utah for the 2006-07 season, also didn’t read much into it.

“Maybe he felt like they didn’t stand up and fight [on Tuesday],” Fisher said. “But it’s no indication of what’s going to happen when Sunday gets going.”

Or, as Lamar Odom said, “I wouldn’t expect a team coached by Coach Sloan to lay down. If I were a Laker, which I am, I wouldn’t pay any attention to that.”

The Jazz will get physical, which the Lakers acknowledge, but Andrew Bynum will be down low, a change from last season’s Western Conference semifinals against Utah that the Lakers won in six games. Most prognosticators have the Lakers winning this year’s playoff series in five games.

Meanwhile, the Lakers reassembled Thursday at their training facility in El Segundo after Jackson gave them the day off Wednesday.

Fisher, Kobe Bryant and Pau Gasol sat out practice after the team began its initial video breakdown of the Jazz.

There was even a light moment or two.

Forward Luke Walton stuck his head out of the weight room and interrupted an interview session with reporters by yelling out, “Lamar, we going to win championships out there or in here?”

Odom smiled and kept talking with reporters for another minute. Then he disappeared into the weight room.

Celtics struggles

Kevin Garnett, the emotional valve of the Boston Celtics, might sit out the rest of the season after his sore right knee responded poorly from a 20-minute run, Celtics Coach Doc Rivers said Thursday.

“He’s a big part of their energy,” Odom said. “It’s too bad that he won’t be playing. I would hate to see a player, especially a player that I respect like Kevin Garnett, have to miss the playoffs because of an injury.”

If Garnett is unable to play, he’ll join San Antonio guard Manu Ginobili as big-name players who won’t be participating in the postseason. Ginobili was sidelined the rest of the season because of a stress fracture in his right ankle.

Garnett suffered a strained muscle in the knee Feb. 19 and sat out 22 of the next 26 games, including the last nine of the regular season.

“We’re going to move on without him,” Rivers told Boston radio station WEEI “If he can’t get through biking and working out without swelling and stiffness and his leg locking, I just don’t know how you play in the playoffs.”

The Celtics begin the playoffs Saturday against Chicago.

MVP projections

Cleveland Cavaliers forward LeBron James is the clear-cut favorite to win the most-valuable-player award this season.

Nineteen of 20 ESPN broadcasters and writers chose James as their MVP in an unofficial poll. The lone dissenter, ESPN analyst Jon Barry, chose Miami Heat guard Dwyane Wade. Nobody voted for Bryant, last season’s winner.

There was a similar trend Tuesday night on TNT. All three analysts chose James.

Kenny Smith called it an “easy pick,” saying James had “squeezed all the talent out of himself and his teammates. He’s made everyone better. He’s gotten 66 wins, the best record in basketball.”

Charles Barkley was equally complimentary of James.

“When he came into the NBA, I didn’t think he could live up to the hype, but he excelled past the hype,” he said. “Kobe Bryant, you’re in the front seat, but this boy is right behind you. He is unbelievable.”

Said analyst Chris Webber: “Kobe is the best player, but this is LeBron James’ league starting now and forever more. He is the first player in sports that has exceeded all the hype.”

Ballots were due this week by the 125 media members who vote for the MVP award, which is typically announced after the first round of the playoffs.

More Barkley

Barkley also discussed the pluses and minuses of the Lakers’ future.

“You can pencil it in. No, I’m sorry, you can use a Sharpie marker and put Western Conference champions four out of the next five years for the Los Angeles Lakers because they are that good,” he said.

But will they win a championship?

“If the Lakers do not win a championship this year . . . I don’t think they will ever win it,” Barkley said.

“If LeBron James leads the Cavaliers to the championship, he will become the best player in the NBA. Kobe Bryant is the best player in the NBA, and he has the best team in my opinion. If [the Lakers] don’t win a championship this year, I don’t think they are going to win it.”

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mike.bresnahan@latimes.com