It’s All Good but the Game

Laker forward Brian Cook was a popular guy Wednesday night, and it had little to do with a career-best effort the night before in Milwaukee.

Cook was back in his home state, more than a year and a half removed from his final game at the University of Illinois, which still carried enough cachet to keep him surrounded by local reporters an hour before the Lakers played the Chicago Bulls.

Cook, the Big Ten Conference player of the year in 2003, was asked whether he still followed Illini basketball. Then he was asked about his summer, and whether it included a trip to his hometown of Lincoln, Ill., population 15,000.

Another question lobbed his direction: Did he think he deserved consideration for a starting spot after a 25-point, 11-rebound night Tuesday against the Bucks? Cook demurred.

“I’m perfectly comfortable in the role that I’m playing right now,” he said. “I like to come off the bench, provide some energy, that’s what I’m striving for.”

Cook scored seven points Wednesday against the Bulls.

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Chicago center Tyson Chandler, the No. 2 overall pick in the 2001 draft, had one of his best efforts of the season, a 10-point, 18-rebound effort against the Lakers in the Bulls’ 92-84 victory.

Chandler, who rarely shows emotion on the court, got charged up after scoring against Lamar Odom, drawing a foul on the play and converting the free throw toward the end of the second quarter. Odom then went down court and scored on Chandler in similar fashion, converting a three-point play.

“He caught an ‘and-one,’ and he kind of barked in my face,” Odom said. “I caught an ‘and-one’ on him and let him know about it. That’s it. It’s just competitive basketball.”