They’re Not the Kings of Comedy

For the record, Phil Jackson says he has never tried to slip past dogs, working or otherwise, at an airport.

He went around them. Kidding.

“It’s humorous,” Jackson said of his latest poke at the Sacramento Kings. “I mean, what else is there in this world if we don’t have a little humor and jocularity in it?”

The Kings and their fans, long Jackson’s target for gibes, appear to have missed the humor in Jackson’s most recent barb, as they often do. On Thursday, on the subject of their celebration the night before, Jackson called the players “goofy guys,” adding, “You don’t want the dogs sniffing their luggage when they come off the plane.”

King Coach Rick Adelman quipped, “Well, he should know.”

Jackson chuckled.

“If that’s in any reference to my past behavior, I will cry foul on that,” Jackson said, grinning.

Being the villain in Sacramento won’t be new to Jackson when he and the Lakers roll in for Games 3 and 4.

“Sacramento needs someone to yell at,” he said. “We’ll give them some bait.”

When Jackson made “redneck” and cowbell jokes, King fans arrived at Arco Arena wearing cow costumes. Or, what appeared to be costumes. The drug joke presents new possibilities.

“I don’t care what he said, to tell you the truth,” Adelman said. “I have learned to disregard what he says. It won’t affect me, and it won’t affect this team.

“He can say all he wants to motivate his team and advance his reputation. I learned last year, you can’t pay attention to any of that. If that stuff is going to bother you, you’re in the wrong business.”

King guard Jason Williams missed the season’s first five games because he’d violated the league’s anti-drug policy. He didn’t laugh, either.

“He’s a goof,” he said of Jackson. “I think it was stupid, childish. He can do what he wants to do, we’ll just go out and play ball.”

The Kings were lacking in jocularity, you could tell.

“It’s a lot of fun,” Jackson said. “This is a team we all kind of like to watch--and have enjoyed them coming together as a basketball team, simply because Sacramento is like the Cleveland Indians were back in the ‘60’s and ‘70’s and ‘80’s. They had a long drought and now they’re a really exciting team to watch. Their fans are terrific. Their support is great. So, it’s just fun to poke them in the ribs once in a while.”

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Laker players spend as much as an hour a day with reporters, measuring their words, answering questions without really answering them, being cooperative without giving up too much.

Then in the morning newspaper Jackson’s got the Kings shooing away the drug dogs.

“We laughed,” guard Derek Fisher said. “It’s funny. It’s definitely funny. Hey, it’s already started. It gives you an idea of what kind of series it’s going to be, because the coaches are starting things already. It’ll be fun. They’re trying to accomplish something they’ve never done before and we’re trying to defend something we feel like is ours. So, it’s going to be interesting.”

Fisher said the Kings probably would find some motivation in it.

“[Jackson] makes it hard on us,” he said, smiling. “He does. We try to come out and represent the organization in the right way and say the right things and try not to put any bulletin-board material out there. He just walks out behind us and sweeps all that right away and says what he wants to say.

“It’s kind of the same thing in his book. There are things in there that we don’t like to talk about and we won’t talk about. He puts it in the book. That’s P.J. . . . What he’s done is set out the first land mine for us to step on.”

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After sitting out Thursday’s practice because of sore ribs, Kobe Bryant practiced Friday and predicted he’d be “close to 100 %” for Sunday’s Game 1.

On the fifth of six days between series, Jackson held the Lakers for about four hours, time spent lifting weights, practicing on the floor and watching film. The emphasis of the film session was the March 28 game against the Kings, which the Lakers lost by 24 points. By 2 p.m., players were bleary eyed.

“Despite my injury, I’m ready to get out there and play,” Bryant said. “I’m looking forward to this series.”

He paused and, before turning away, added, “And I don’t have any marijuana jokes.”