The Players Were Great, Jackson Made Them Better

I would have voted for Phil Jackson for coach of the year. . . .

But it’s easier for us in Los Angeles to see the impact he has had on the Lakers than it is for sportswriters in some other parts of the country who haven’t seen much of the team. . . .

You know, the ones who don’t have television yet. . . .

I’m sure they look at the fact that the Lakers have Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant and say anybody could coach them. . . .

We know better. . . .

I’m not saying Del Harris and Kurt Rambis couldn’t coach O’Neal or Bryant. They just couldn’t coach them at the same time. . . .

But Jackson arrived with his six championship rings and convinced O’Neal and Bryant to accept their roles. . . .

“Every great team has a one-two punch,” O’Neal said. . . .

It was easier for him to accept his role because he was one and Bryant was two. . . .

Not only on the team but in the entire NBA. . . .

The IBM award was announced Thursday. Say what you want about Vince Carter, but the computer said the league’s best all-around player is O’Neal. . . .

All he did this season was finish first in scoring and field-goal percentage, second in rebounding and third in blocked shots. He also averaged a career high 3.8 assists. . . .

But Bryant, now a mature 21, also accepted Shaq’s role. . . .

‘He doesn’t make his game a personal game anymore,” Laker forward Rick Fox told Sports Illustrated in a recent article cleverly headlined, “Boy II Man.” “You don’t see him doing the things on the floor that used to get him in trouble and get us in trouble.” . . .

The only trouble Bryant caused Thursday night at Staples Center was for Sacramento. . . .

Whether it was dunking after an alley-oop pass from O’Neal or hitting a three-pointer from 35 feet as the shot clock ran out, Bryant dominated the first half. . . .

He had 22 points at halftime after scoring on nine of 13 field-goal attempts, including three of three from three-point range. He finished with a playoff career-high 32. . . .

So he’s the Lakers’ No. 2, only not every night.

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You think O’Neal cares anymore that Bryant occasionally upstages him? . . .

At one point, they were leading a two-on-one fastbreak. Bryant could have passed to Shaq for an easy dunk but instead kept it for himself and scored, also drawing a foul. . . .

O’Neal hugged him. . . .

That was in the second half. The game was all but over by then. . . .

Even Sacramento Coach Rick Adelman would have to admit afterward that the referees had nothing to do with that. . . .

Wouldn’t he? . . .

Jackson was asked before the game if he would use Milwaukee’s victory at Indiana earlier Thursday night as a motivational tool, letting his players know what could happen if they weren’t ready. . . .

He all but sneered, calling such a ploy a “cheap gesture.” . . .

It would be so un-Zen. . . .

“They understand you have to be good night in and night out,” he said of the Lakers. . . .

It would be difficult to win 67 games if you didn’t. . . .

The Lakers certainly understood it Thursday night. . . .

They were good enough offensively but even better defensively against a team that usually doesn’t have that much trouble scoring against anyone, even the Lakers.

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Back to Jackson’s second-place finish in coach-of-the-year voting by sportswriters. . . .

I’m sure it’s not personal. . . .

When he complains because the NBA mandates that coaches open the last 30 minutes of their practices to the press, sportswriters aren’t offended. . . .

Traditionally, sportswriters vote for the coach who did the most with the least. . . .

That means that the Clipper coach is always a contender until the season starts. . . .

Who will the Clipper coach be next season? I was hearing Mike Fratello. Now I’m hearing Dennis Johnson. . . .

Doc Rivers, who did win coach of the year in Orlando, wanted the job the last time it was open, but he also wanted to be paid like a real NBA coach. . . .

But I digress. Pat Riley says that a playoff series doesn’t begin until a team wins on the road. That means this one between the Lakers and the Kings will start at the same time it ends, on Sunday in Sacramento.

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Randy Harvey can be reached at his e-mail address: randy.harvey@latimes.com.