It’s Early, but Jackson Reads This Team Like a Book

Coach Phil Jackson did not pass out books to his players or plan any other specific team-bonding moments during this first extended Laker trip--as he did at times famously during long Chicago Bull trips--partly, he said, because he feels the team’s chemistry is already relatively untroubled.

“I think it’s a group of guys that are not bickering about minutes or time,” said Jackson, who, before the trip, did have each player select another teammate’s name for “Secret Santa” gift-giving purposes.

“Kobe [Bryant] is a young guy and [Devean] George and [John] Celestand, they’re really our only young guys on the team right now. We’ve got Ty Lue who’s injured. . . .

“Those are the kinds of kids that sometimes get into head-on-head combat, butting heads against one another.

“The rest of the guys are pretty experienced guys, can absorb the useful enthusiasm and challenges that those guys bring all the time to the court and kind of defray it and keep it a light mood.

“They’re always pulling stunts on one another, that kind of thing. So they’re having a good time as a group of guys and I appreciate that.”

*

With the Lakers already 2-0 to start the four-game trip, center Shaquille O’Neal said it would be nice to sweep the final two games but said it was not a major team goal.

“We just want to beat the teams we’re supposed to beat and steal some games on the road--we’ve been doing that,” O’Neal said.

“All we want to do is win every game. [A 4-0 trip] doesn’t matter. The only thing that matters is [the NBA finals in] June.”

Today

at Toronto

Noon, Channel 9

* Site--Air Canada Centre.

* Radio--KLAC 570.

* Records--Lakers 20-5; Raptors 13-10.

* Record vs. Raptors--0-1.

* Update--After losing in Orlando on Friday, Toronto is on a 1-4 skid. On Nov. 21 at Staples Center, the Raptors gave the Lakers their most thorough defeat of the season, 111-102, making 10 of their 16 three-point tries. Vince Carter had a career-high 34 points and 13 rebounds.