Jackson: Incident Forgotten

Phil Jackson smiled and offered a boys-will-be-boys explanation.

Kobe Bryant put an arm around Samaki Walker as the power forward sat by his locker stall before Friday night’s game against the Charlotte Hornets and received treatment for the hyperextended elbow that has forced him onto the injured list.

By Friday, Walker’s brief fight with Bryant on the Laker bus Thursday in Cleveland was being downplayed by all parties.

According to sources, a discussion between Bryant and Walker on the way to a shoot-around became intense and ended violently when Bryant landed a punch under Walker’s right eye.

Quick action by bodyguards on the bus prevented Walker from retaliating.

“It was just juvenile play,” Jackson said. “To be honest, I did not think too much about it although there was a noticeable mark on [Walker]. The incident has been resolved. It was resolved by game time [Thursday].”

Said Walker: “We’ve still got love for each other. I think this adds a little character to the team.”

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While Jackson wasn’t about to fine anybody in the incident, or criticize Bryant about his flare-up, he was also not about to pass up an opportunity to tease Bryant about Portland’s Ruben Patterson, the former Laker who calls himself the “Kobe Stopper.”

Last Sunday, Patterson was at it again, playing a key role in Portland’s victory over the Lakers while trash talking with Bryant up and down the court.

So when the subject of Thursday’s trade between the Dallas Mavericks and the Denver Nuggets came up Friday and Jackson was asked if another former Laker, Nick Van Exel, can be a factor in the playoffs with the Mavericks, Jackson replied: “I don’t think Nick Van Exel is a Laker killer. Ruben Patterson is the true Laker killer.”

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As he was poised to make the game-winning shot Friday night, Bryant couldn’t help but think back to the closing seconds Tuesday night against the Boston Celtics at Staples Center when he put up a shot that was ruled too late by the length of one fingertip.

“It was good to hit one that counts,” he said of Friday’s final points.

“In the Celtic game, they took one away.”

He also thought back to his youth.

“It’s what every kid dreams of in his backyard,” Bryant said. “The clock is running down ... 10 ... nine.... I never did miss one of those as a kid.”

And rarely as an adult.

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Steve Springer