Jackson Not Asking for 3 to Make 2

Coach Phil Jackson said he doesn’t want the NBA to return to the old three-to-make-two free-throw rules of two decades ago in answer to the intentional-foul strategy employed in Game 1 by Portland Coach Mike Dunleavy against Shaquille O’Neal.

“I didn’t think that the three-for-two was an appropriate rule to have in basketball,” Jackson said before Monday’s Game 2. “If you get fouled, you should make your foul shots.

“However, maybe they’ll extend the time limitation to three minutes or whatever, where fouling for profit or away from the ball or whatever, will be a penalty similar to the two-minute rule, which is a technical and the ball back.

“That’s probably something that will be addressed in the board of governors, and there’ll be a lot of opinions on that.”

The board will meet in Chicago in a few weeks, and Rod Thorn, NBA senior vice president, said that an amplification of the away-from-the-ball rule probably would be discussed.

Does Jackson believe that other teams, which do not have a player such as O’Neal, will be sympathetic to a rule change?

“Sympathy will be with NBC,” Jackson said. “It depends on, really, how they feel the flow of the game is affected.

“What did it take to play that quarter? [53 minutes]. That’s really long.”

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Jackson joked with Scottie Pippen during Game 1 that Pippen couldn’t guard every Laker player at once, and Monday modified the remark:

“Just Kobe [Bryant] and Shaq and [Ron] Harper,” Jackson said, smiling, “just three of our five.”