Jackson Unhappy With TNT

Another city for Kobe Bryant, another rehash of what it’s like to be free on bail and bracing for a rape trial.

A dozen reporters found Bryant in a locker-room chair before Friday night’s game against the New Orleans Hornets and asked Bryant to skip through questions about his life, such as it is, from the bracelets he wears to the way he spends his days.

He said he relies on his faith more than ever.

“You get pushed to a point that’s your breaking point,” he said. “You can’t carry it all by yourself.”

Uneasy with a TNT interview of Bryant after Thursday’s victory in San Antonio, Coach Phil Jackson took up for Bryant Friday afternoon.

Asked if he worried about Bryant getting through the emotional rigors of the season, alongside whatever else comes, Jackson said, “Well, I think the persistent badgering of the press is difficult. Last night I wasn’t happy with [Ernie] Johnson’s interview on TNT. I really think there’s no need for some of the questions that are being asked him. I think those are not necessary. A lot of these sports journalists are [trying to be] Barbara Walters, trying to extract some secret out of somebody. ...

“You should be taking care of business in sports, which pertains to the basketball presently being played. So, those things do bother me, but he’s a strong person. He’s got a great character ... so I think he’ll be fine.

“There’s just two things. It has to do with the obvious thing, which is his ongoing legal procedure and the second-most obvious thing, which is the feud with Shaquille [O’Neal]. Those are two volatile -- or potentially volatile things -- that ... don’t have anything to do with basketball.”

Bryant has not seemed particularly bothered. He said he continues to get support from the people he sees on the street, that what they usually want is a smile and an autograph.

He often hears, “I love you,” Bryant said, “and God bless you.”

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The offense hasn’t been a problem for the Lakers, who averaged 106.4 points in their first five games and then scored 95 against the Hornets on Friday. But, Jackson said, few of the points are coming out of triangle, primarily because Karl Malone and Gary Payton are unfamiliar with it.

“I don’t think Gary has really applied himself totally to the fact that he’s got to run the offense,” Jackson said. “I think the guys are saying, ‘Don’t worry about it, it will come naturally, you’ll figure it out.’ And as a result we’ve skated through, what, five games now and some exhibition games without really a total comprehension of all the things that can be done. He’ll get there. That will be not natural, but it will come to him in a while. It’s not an easy thing to do and right now [Derek Fisher] is coming in and doing a pretty good job of backing him up and also playing alongside him.”

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It was late, and then it was early, and then everybody came to the NBA arena for work. From beneath a handful of heat pads, the book “Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff” open on his lap, Horace Grant sighed.

“We’re fine,” Grant said. “Forty-five, 50 minutes, you’re going to get tired and it’s natural to [whine] a little. Try eight hours a day in the coal mine or digging ditches, working the farm. That’s work.”

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Before the opening tip Friday, O’Neal walked across the floor of the New Orleans Arena and hugged Johnnie Cochran, who sat courtside. One would have thought he’d have a better acquaintance with The Glove.... Alvin Gentry, a Hornet assistant, on the effects of the New Orleans cuisine: “I’ve moved up a weight division.” ... Slava Medvedenko sat out his sixth game because of a bruised left heel. “It’s not good, not bad,” he said before the game. The Lakers hope he can practice Sunday.