Kobe Says His Knees Are Better

It was the usual scene Thursday afternoon at El Segundo, where Robert Horry answered the second-day questions about another cool jumper in a career of them, Kobe Bryant declined to practice for the good of his 24-year-old-looking but 42-year-old-acting knees, and Coach Phil Jackson stepped out to undergo another procedure to break down one stubborn kidney stone, his second such procedure in 11 days.

So, Horry sighed and shrugged and said it was nothing, Bryant said his knees had made “significant improvement” in the previous 14 hours, and Jackson is expected to be on the bench when the Lakers play the Minnesota Timberwolves tonight.

After 10 days spent attempting to pass fragments of a kidney stone broken down by sound waves on Feb. 24, Jackson returned to Centinela Hospital Medical Center on Thursday morning, hours after coaching the Lakers to Wednesday night’s 97-95 victory over the Indiana Pacers, for about one-fifth the treatment of the first procedure.

By early Thursday evening, Jackson was resting at his Playa del Rey home, still intending to coach tonight.

The veteran Lakers hoped for the best for Jackson but seemed undaunted by his recent absences.

Meanwhile, Bryant took hours of treatment to momentarily soothe his tendinitis, critical in that the Laker season gets thick with back-to-back games and plane flights very soon.

“[Wednesday] night I tried to get through the game without setting my knees back. Today, I made significant improvement,” Bryant said. “It’s about taking care of it.”

Tonight’s game is important because the Timberwolves (40-23) have what the Lakers want, which is the No. 5 position in the Western Conference. The Lakers (33-26) hold the seventh position. If the playoffs started today, they very likely would have to go through Sacramento (No. 2), San Antonio (No. 3) and Dallas (No. 1), with each Game 7 on the road. The fifth-seeded team would be in the upper half of the conference bracket, as of today playing Portland in the first round and Dallas in the second, while presumably the Spurs and Kings exhausted each other in the lower bracket.

“If there’s any hope of us climbing up to the fourth or fifth spot,” Rick Fox said, “they may be right there.”

The game also features MVP candidates Bryant and Kevin Garnett. Garnett has been going so well he beat out Bryant for the conference’s player of the month, and only two players -- Wilt Chamberlain and Elgin Baylor -- have had better offensive months than Bryant’s February.

Garnett took a bad fall during the overtime period of the Timberwolves’ 96-95 loss in Sacramento on Wednesday, turning an ankle and bruising a hip, but is expected to play.

Garnett had 27 points and 24 rebounds against the Kings, but the Timberwolves have lost consecutive games for the first time in five weeks, becoming the latest East Coast or Midwest team to misplace its game as it entered Pacific time zone air space.

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Shaquille O’Neal said he’d be happy to have the maximum allowable contract extension -- three years, $121.5 million -- if owner Jerry Buss offered it this summer. O’Neal, who turned 31 Thursday, would be committing to playing through his 37th birthday. “I’ll take that,” he said, then added, “He’s a good guy, a great owner. If he does it, good. If he doesn’t, I understand.” ... Samaki Walker, slowed by a sprained right ankle, practiced Thursday and then said the ankle was “so-so.” ... Devean George has a mild abdominal strain.

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TONIGHT

vs. Minnesota, 7:30

Fox Sports Net

Site -- Staples Center.

Radio -- KLAC-AM (570), KWKW-AM (1330), KIRN (670).

Records -- Lakers 33-26, Timberwolves 40-23.

Record vs. Timberwolves -- 0-2.

Update -- Garnett, who has had double-doubles in 11 consecutive games, averages 23.1 points and 13.2 rebounds. Forward Joe Smith has been back two games after missing 14 with a sprained ankle. The Timberwolves have won four of the last five games in the series.