Kobe Picks Worst Time to Put Team Back in ‘I’

Now some folks might consider it heckling--the parting shot I yelled at Kobe Bryant on Monday after badgering and getting nowhere with him in a news conference after the Laker workout, but all I was trying to do was make sure he doesn’t get booed again tonight.

This is the one NBA game everyone in L.A. has been waiting for: Kobe versus Michael, but now Kobe is telling us it’s “not really” that special to play Michael Jordan, “it’s just another game,” and his responsibility tonight will be to “make sure I get my teammates involved.”

There ought to be a NBA rule tonight that the other eight players on the court are not allowed to touch the ball. I already love the fact Shaquille O’Neal is being true to his word about making Kobe the league’s MVP this season, and he won’t be around to clog up the court, but I don’t like what I’m hearing from Kobe.

“As a leader, I need to make sure everyone gets involved,” Kobe said, which means when he passes the ball to Slava Medvedenko tonight, this one could come down to Slava versus Michael, and won’t that be memorable.

*

WE’RE NOT going to get much help from Phil Jackson, the king of the party-poopers, who made it clear this game “is not going to be Michael versus Kobe,” or “Michael against me.”

In fact, I think Mr. Sacred Hoops is out to sabotage our night on the town. “I won’t have Kobe defending against Michael,” he said, and so Kobe is going to guard Richard Hamilton, and I know you’ve been waiting all year for that.

Fortunately, once the game starts Jackson doesn’t do much, so there’s still a chance his two prized pupils will try to impress the master with their best moves. At the very least, imagine the final 10 seconds of a quarter with Kobe or Michael dribbling the ball at the top of key and the other one on defense poised for the one-on-one finale, and you know everyone in Staples Center is going to come to their feet. Jackson might even stand up, which is something else we haven’t seen.

*

DURING THE All-Star game in Philadelphia, microphones picked up Jordan telling Kobe they weren’t going to let him take over the game, and Kobe replying, “don’t talk me to death--just go out there and do it.”

Now that’s the kind of talk everyone was hoping to hear Monday, but instead Kobe went politically correct, doing his best to quash the anticipation. I suggested to Kobe that maybe he wasn’t telling us how he really felt.

“If I was going to be stoked about it, I’d tell you guys” said Kobe--sure, like he’s well-known for pouring his heart and soul out to the media.

Then he really laid it on, and said, “it’s time to start picking it up as a team.” I’d like to know why the Lakers didn’t think of that last week when it was Kobe against Kevin Ollie and the Bulls?

Why must the good of the team get in the way of our entertainment?

I asked Kobe if he could put the team’s welfare on hold for another game--like that’s a big deal for a team that can turn it on and off whenever it wants.

“I hate to ruin your buzz,” he said, and I told him he was, and he apologized again, but I don’t think he really meant it.

And that’s where it ended, Kobe walking away and I couldn’t help myself. I yelled after him: “How about just one quarter?” knowing one scintillating quarter of the old man versus the kid would be an “I was there moment” to cherish for some time, and Kobe just kept shaking his head no.

It’s not going to happen, of course, because most of us weren’t born in Philadelphia, but you already know how Michael reacts when he thinks everyone is against him, and now we know when you boo Kobe, you get his MVP game. Too bad we couldn’t hire a few louts from Philly for a few hours just to get Michael and Kobe going--and then send the morons back to that miserable hellhole where they belong.

*

IT WAS about 2:30 when Jackson met with the press, and when asked about Kobe’s performance in the All-Star game, he said he didn’t see it because he “didn’t want to waste time watching it” while on vacation.

A little after 3, “The Phil Jackson Show” made its debut on KMPC 1540 here in L.A., and Jackson told host Chris Myers the game of basketball is an “evolving sport which we all saw in the All-Star game.”

So did he or didn’t he? Myers asked Jackson if he had spent time during the break scouting, which tells me Myers isn’t big on doing his homework.

Jackson said he was in Palm Springs getting a “massage, exercise, facial and pedicure,” and that’s something else he kept from the media, or I’d have asked what color nail polish he’s using on his toes these days.

Myers asked Jackson, “Do you have a thought where the interest in the All-Star game currently lies?”

I have a pretty good idea where Jackson’s interest in the All-Star Game lies, and seeing as how I wasn’t getting the straight scoop so far, I switched stations and had to decide between listening to a replay of “The Jim Rome Show,” or “Doug & Joe” live. It was a pretty easy choice.

*

TODAY’S LAST word comes in an e-mail from Raul:

“I don’t like what you wrote about the Dodgers. I’ve noticed from the very beginning you’re stuck in Gary Sheffield’s jock strap.”

If that were true, I believe I’d be in Atlanta right now.

*

T.J. Simers can be reached at t.j.simers@latimes.com.