Rider Benched After Missing Bus

J.R. Rider did not play Tuesday night because he missed the team bus, then arrived 45 minutes after the required reporting time, Coach Phil Jackson said.

The team hotel is three blocks from The Delta Center, where the Utah Jazz play, about a five-minute walk.

Asked if something happened, Rider said, “Nothing happened. Nothing happened.”

Often, Rider oversleeps.

“Nothing happened,” he said.

Told Jackson’s version, Rider said, “Report that Phil said I was late to the bus.”

Jackson said his decision not to play Rider was less punitive than tactical.

“I just noticed that when he is late sometimes it affects his game and how he plays,” he said. “So I didn’t take a chance.”

Rider returned March 16 from a five-game suspension for violating the league’s anti-drug policy. He has played sparingly since, doing little to help in Kobe Bryant’s absence.

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Rick Fox awoke Monday with his jaw nearly locked after a night of unconsciously grinding his teeth. He then required root-canal work on the right side of his mouth, causing him to miss Monday’s team charter out of Los Angeles. He flew Tuesday instead, arriving in time for the Laker shoot-around.

Fox spoke softly Tuesday evening. He was able to chew on his left side, but grinning appeared to be an effort.

His wife, actress Vanessa Williams, and daughter are in Toronto, where Williams is shooting a movie. That left Fox alone with a disappointing loss to the New York Knicks on Sunday night, the latest in a series of unexplainable efforts by the Lakers. Frustrated by it all, he ground his teeth.

“I tend to do this when I get very angry with something in my life,” he said. “This has been nothing I foresaw, I don’t think any of us foresaw. If you care about it, it hurts. Deep inside, I guess there’s enough of me that’s angry.”

Against the Jazz, Fox scored two points on one-for-eight shooting and had one rebound in 24 minutes.

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Mark Madsen had his technical foul from Sunday’s game rescinded by the league.

While that seemed a small thing--Madsen saved $500 and the league certainly wasn’t going to order overtime--it meant a lot to Paul Madsen, Mark’s 14-year-old brother. Paul didn’t see the game. Classmates told him the technical was called because Mark threw the basketball at Glen Rice.

“He was concerned,” Madsen said. “He thought I snapped at somebody.”

Paul, a high school freshman, telephoned Mark, very worried.

“It made me realize again athletes are in a position of acclaim,” Mark said. “Here’s my little brother, who knows me really well. Kids watch.”

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Bryant did not participate in Tuesday’s shoot-around and did not play against the Jazz. Because of a strained left ankle, he has played only 11 minutes in the last seven games, all against the Knicks on Sunday.

He continued to receive treatment, but reported no change in his condition.

“Same old, same old,” he said.

The Lakers are scheduled to practice today in Chicago, then will play the Chicago Bulls on Thursday night.

Bryant said he did not know if he would practice today.