Jackson Waves Off Hand-Signal Report

The newspaper report that suggested the Lakers would freeze out Kobe Bryant based on hand signals from Shaquille O’Neal actually strengthened the relationship between the two, Coach Phil Jackson said Thursday.

“It became such an issue, everywhere we went people asked about it,” Jackson said. “It was obviously something that was more fabrication than reality that actually brought them together.”

That doesn’t stop the topic from being rehashed in every NBA city. Jackson sighed at the mention of it again.

“I think that it is something that passed, that is long gone,” he said. “It’s a situation that happened a couple weeks ago. It’s past. They’re moving on. As a team, we have ups and downs. Our four-game road trip last week was very effective. The chemistry’s better.”

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Bryant said he “probably won’t” participate in the slam-dunk contest at the NBA All-Star weekend in February.

Bryant won the competition in 1997 but has not been a regular contestant since.

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Like many of the older Lakers, Horace Grant has been slow to find his legs early in the season. Back spasms kept him out of Thursday’s game against the Suns.

“Horace has been inconsistent for us,” Jackson said. “He knows it. Physically he’s not where I think he’d like to be. When Shaq’s out he plays great. He plays some big games for us, and then he gets lost in third- or fourth-option situations that fall into his hands during the course of the game. I don’t think he’s adapted as well as he’d like into the triangle.

“So, he’s still coming to terms with that. I think the nights he’s limited in shots, where he’s only going to get five or seven shots, he’s not hitting the ones he’d like to when he’s wide open.”

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Is there any doubt the Lakers and Dallas Mavericks will meet in the first round of the playoffs? The NBA needs a whole series of this.

This week, Dallas owner Mark Cuban called O’Neal the Steve Sax of free throws, and Coach Don Nelson responded to O’Neal’s charge that he is a clown running a clown defense.

“I was thinking of wearing a red bulb on my nose to prove he’s right,” Nelson told Dallas reporters. “I thought he was more mature than that. Obviously, he’s embarrassed from his foul shooting.”

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Mike Penberthy averaged about 10 minutes in the last four games, reversing the trend of only a week before.

“Some of it’s matchups, some of it has to do with how he’s playing, how well it’s going for him,” Jackson said.

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Devean George probably will stay on injured reserve for at least one more game, through Saturday’s game against the Clippers, though he is eligible to come off today.