Jackson Won’t Panic Over Loss

Jeff Van Gundy leapt and Pat Riley recently said he wouldn’t, and it’s getting hard to follow along from Los Angeles, where the Lakers lost their second game of the season Friday night and Phil Jackson’s response was to give them the weekend off.

They arrived in Los Angeles early Saturday morning, Arco Arena and a night of missed jumpers and spotty defense behind them.

The Kings beat them soundly early and frantically late, and while that was disappointing, the Lakers were of the opinion they shot themselves in the foot, probably aiming for the knee. They missed 15 of 19 three-point attempts and various other open jump shots in the 97-91 loss, not to mention nine free throws, eight by their center and tri-captain, Shaquille O’Neal.

Jackson has been found to be disappointed in victory and somewhat satisfied in defeat. He ranted about the fractured offense after Wednesday’s victory against Dallas, their ninth consecutive, then complimented everyone on a 35-point fourth quarter against the Kings, when at times it felt as though the building would come down around them.

In nature, that’s known as being centered, and everybody seemed able to deal with the loss. The only possible casualty was the growing sense that the Lakers were invincible, anytime, anywhere, and there’s, oh, only 64 games left to regain that. Last season, they needed eight games, all in the middle of April.

“We finished the game strong,” Jackson said. “We came back and, well, we didn’t have a shot at it, but we showed we could finish it. We’ll be fine.”

On a purely optional practice day, a handful of Lakers gathered in El Segundo on Saturday morning. While Kobe Bryant laid low to continue his recovery from a sinus infection and O’Neal stayed off his aching feet, the gym off Nash Street was alive with Rick Fox, Devean George, Derek Fisher, Samaki Walker, Mark Madsen and Slava Medvedenko. They lifted weights, shot easily, and broke up early. The Lakers are still in an airy stretch in their schedule, and Jackson appears intent on having them rested when the heavy months of January and February hit.

They don’t play again until Tuesday, when they play host to the Seattle SuperSonics, and by the end of next week will have played three games in 12 days. They are off today, and have a mandatory practice Monday.

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As O’Neal shot a fourth-quarter free throw Friday night, a fan let the air out of a balloon, which danced over the backboard and fell to the court. O’Neal missed the free throw. He missed eight of 11 in all.

It wasn’t Sacramento’s only attempt at distraction, or its most colorful.

While the balloon fluttered, brothers and King owners Gavin and Joe Maloof, standing beneath the basket, leaped. And gyrated. And waved their arms. And screamed at O’Neal. And generally made Mark Cubans of themselves.

“For a while I thought I was back in Greece,” Peja Stojakovic told the Sacramento Bee. “Over there, [owners] would be shaking the basket trying to make them miss.”

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The Laker losses--Friday’s in Sacramento and Nov. 16 in Phoenix--had some similarities.

The Lakers have been outshot five times, including in the two defeats. They made too few threes (four of 19 against the Kings, six of 22 against Phoenix), and O’Neal made too few free throws (three of 11 against the Kings, eight of 18 against the Suns).

In their 16 wins, O’Neal and Bryant accounted for 51.6% of the offense. At Phoenix and Sacramento combined, they scored 100 of 174 points, or 57.5% of the offense.