Team Thinks This Is a Test

No, there’s no grand conspiracy against the Lakers ... is there?

In the wake of the Kobe Bryant-Reggie Miller incident, several Lakers say other teams are testing them or goading them, or beating on them.

“They were upset at Minnesota, the way [the Timberwolves] played us at Minnesota,” Coach Phil Jackson said.

“There were no foul calls in situations where Shaq [O’Neal] was basically hammered by a couple guys at various times in the lane....

“But what do you do about that stuff? There are 82 games, you just have to play the season out and do the best you can and just go through it, slog it out.

“You don’t get calls, you don’t get respect.

“You earn it.”

The NBA’s roughneck play basically ended in the ‘90s when the league began cracking down on hard fouls, instituting the flagrant foul points system, putting a crimp in the plans of the Bad Boy Pistons and Pat Riley’s Knicks.

Having survived that, Jackson understands there’s a difference.

“I don’t think the league is going to allow people to just come out and start hammering on guys to get ‘em to fight. I mean, that’s what Detroit did 10 years ago. That’s the way they played basketball when they were at the top of the league. They’d wait until a critical time and then up the ante all the time. That’s the reason we have all these retaliation rules in the first place, to stop that kind of stuff.

“I think the refereeing’s good enough to measure that kind of stuff. And I hope the league sees it as a warning sign.”