Coach Phil Jackson has to hope Lakers are holding something in reserve
It was an interesting answer to an interesting question posed to Lakers Coach Phil Jackson.
Jackson was asked whether his bench was as potent as it has been.
“It’s got the personnel. It should be,” Jackson said. “But we’re not. Right now we’re not playing as well.”
And the reserves didn’t play any better Friday against the Cleveland Cavaliers.
By halftime, the Lakers’ bench had been outscored by the Cavaliers’, 19-2.
By the end of Cleveland’s 102-87 victory, that total was 31-17. But even that statistic is misleading, because the Lakers’ reserves scored 15 of those points in the fourth quarter. By then, the game was out of reach.
“Our team played bad,” said Lamar Odom, a key member of the Lakers’ second unit, who had a subpar game with six points and five rebounds. “Like I said, you can go look at every component of the game where we lost it today -- the field-goal percentage, the starters, the bench.”
Odom earned two of the five technical fouls issued against the Lakers, earning himself an ejection.
“What are you going to say when you get your [butt] kicked?” Odom said. “It happens when you are losing and you are losing badly.”
Jackson reminisces
In four of the five seasons Jackson coached Shaquille O’Neal, the Lakers reached the NBA Finals, winning titles the first three years of this decade.
O’Neal, now with the Cavaliers, was traded away by the Lakers to the Miami Heat after the 2003-04 season and Jackson also departed as coach before he was asked back at the start of the 2005-06 season.
Looking back, Jackson has fond memories of the times he shared with O’Neal and Kobe Bryant, even if those two didn’t have fond feelings for each other at the time.
“Oh, it was a wonderful span of time in my career,” Jackson said. “I know it will be for them [Bryant and O’Neal] too. Three successive championships. Very exciting teams.”
O’Neal is entering his 18th season and is not the same player he was.
Even Jackson had noticed that, before O’Neal scored 11 points and grabbed seven rebounds Friday.
“He could run a 10-flat 100-yard dash,” Jackson said. “But now he’s about 12 seconds [in the] 100-yard dash. So he’s slowed down a little bit, but he still has the power and you’ve got to be careful of him getting into the lane. He’s going to get to the middle. He’s going to do some things to a team.”
Home cooking
Because Staples Center has so many events over the course of a year, Jackson said it’s nearly “impossible” for the Lakers to have a balanced schedule.
The Lakers have played 19 games at home, nine on the road.
They’ll play two more road games in the next three days, tonight at Sacramento and Monday at Phoenix.
Jackson is not bothered by the Lakers’ having played so many games at home.
“I think it’s good for our team,” Jackson said. “I think it sets up a good playoffs situation where you have to play well on the road in tight games and be a little better. And I like it for the fact that in the beginning part of the season we get a chance to iron some things out at home.”
Secret Santa
It was another season of giving among Lakers players, another Secret Santa program in which the players exchanged gifts with one other.
Odom was Pau Gasol’s Secret Santa and gave the power forward Louis Vuitton luggage.
“He didn’t need it either,” Odom said, laughing, referring to Gasol’s signing this week of a three-year, $57-million contract extension.
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