Hey, if Lakers Can Beat Those Guys ...

That victory over the Pistons was the best performance the Lakers have had all year. Why can’t they play like that day in and day out?

Isn’t Phil Jackson the Zen master of visualization and being in the zone? Why can’t these guys visualize they are playing the Pistons when they are really playing Charlotte, Boston, Portland or any other NBA bottom feeder?

FELIPE VARELA

Whittier

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How dare Phil Jackson compare the Laker season to an event -- the Bataan Death March -- that caused the tortures and deaths of thousands.

My uncle was captured at the age of 17 and was lucky enough to survive the march. And then he was put on one of the hell ships and transported to Japan and was used as slave labor in a steel mill until the end of the war in 1945. I think that was a little harder than playing a game for millions of dollars and trying to make the playoffs.

I don’t know if Jackson thought he was being funny or just did not think when he made such a comparison, but either way, it showed very poor taste.

ROBERT HARTZFELD

Van Nuys

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Trading Shaq three or four years too early? No championships.

Keeping Lamar Odom three or four years too long? No playoffs.

Finally getting rid of Slava Medvedenko after three or four of the most useless, unproductive years in Laker history? Priceless!

GARY LINQUIST

Morro Bay

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Does Jack Nicholson lead the Staples crowd in cheering, “We’re No. 8?”

JOHN RAINEY

Palm Desert