Visualization Is In, Practice Is Out

The Lakers rolled out of their beds in their downtown hotel here Wednesday morning, fully expecting one of those practices.

You know, one of those lost-three-out-of-four practices, even if they did have a game against Portland in a few hours.

They dragged themselves through the snow flurries and onto the luxury bus at 11 a.m., an early hour because the charter flight didn’t land until 1:30 a.m.

Last aboard was Coach Phil Jackson, up the stairs and down the aisle and to the middle of the bus. As he did, the driver pulled slowly from the curb.

“Stop the bus!” Jackson said. And it did.

“We’re not practicing,” Jackson told them. “Everyone in here must mentally visualize what he can do to help this team.”

Then Jackson turned and returned to the hotel, leaving a stunned and bemused team behind. Finally, they scrambled from the bus, to a free day in Portland.

*

Kobe Bryant missed 23 shots against Milwaukee on Tuesday night. Jackson had meant to go over that with him.

As usual, there are various perspectives on Bryant. Had he taken the same 31 shots and made, say, 17, instead of eight, perhaps the view would have been different.

“I don’t know,” Jackson said. “If I had more time I might ask Kobe about the game, about his mental makeup of the game. You don’t know. He’s a kid. He’s a 22-year-old kid. Maybe [he’s thinking] he fell below a 30-points-per-game average. [Ray] Allen’s got 35, I’m going to show Allen. You don’t know what’s going on in a kid’s mind out there. Sometimes with Kobe it’s not ‘we,’ it’s ‘me.’ In that regard with Kobe, you’ve got to step back and say, ‘What’s really important?’ The team is what’s really important.”

Jackson’s tone did not suggest a scathing criticism of Bryant, though the words were harsh. Indeed, he has given Bryant plenty of line in the season’s first six weeks.

“It’s a measure of responsibility,” Jackson said. “How much is given is how much you have to demonstrate. With Kobe having a very hot streak where he’s run a little wild, going great guns and still taking shots within the context of the offense, he’s got a lot of responsibility to play that way. In the last three games, he’s got to tighten it up.”

Bryant made 13 of 25 shots Wednesday en route to 35 points.

*

As rookie Mike Penberthy sees it, he has had a breakthrough with his teammates, many of whom probably hadn’t heard of him until a few months ago.

“They’re not rolling their eyes at my mistakes anymore,” he said, laughing.

Penberthy’s defense has improved, though he remains a favored target of point guards eager to post him, and Damon Stoudamire torched him Wednesday. Offensively, he first showed he could make the three-point shot, and since has left defenders at the arc and made the mid-range jumper.

He scored a career-high 16 points on seven-of-seven shooting Tuesday, then followed that up by making three of four shots against the Trail Blazers.

“It’s part of the game plan,” Penberthy said. “They were leaving me open early on. Now they’re not.”

*

Shaquille O’Neal is less impressed by Alex Rodriguez’s 10-year, $252-million contract than he is with Rodriguez’s choice in states. Texas has no state income tax.

“That’s what’s mind-blowing about it,” O’Neal said of the new Texas Ranger shortstop’s deal. “I only wish all states had the same tax laws.”

O’Neal, of course, is doing fine. Among other luxuries, he has chartered a jet at $3,000 per hour that will take him to his LSU graduation Friday in Baton Rouge and then drop him with the team early Sunday morning in Toronto.