Malone Isn’t Ready Just Yet

For months intent on making his comeback Monday night against the Utah Jazz, Karl Malone said Friday he probably would allow his knee more time to heal and not play in that game.

Coach Phil Jackson put Malone’s return perhaps two weeks away still, somewhere after the next trip, specifically mentioning games against the Clippers on March 17 and 19.

“I’ve waited for three months now,” Malone said. “I can sure ... wait another week.”

Malone tore his right medial collateral ligament Dec. 21. On Thursday he was cleared to practice. The Lakers practice today, then play the New Jersey Nets on Sunday and the Jazz, Malone’s former team, on Monday. Their next chance for a full-scale practice is Thursday in Minneapolis.

It appears the Lakers will keep Malone on the injured list for at least that long, and perhaps through next weekend, giving Malone a chance to reacquire his basketball skills and team medical personnel to gauge the response of his knee.

“I’m becoming more realistic of when I can play again,” Malone said. “I’ll just see. I haven’t put a timetable on it. I’ll see how I feel. It’ll be somewhat of a zoo or circus [in Utah]. I don’t know if I want to feed into that.”

When the Jazz chided Malone and teammate Kobe Bryant in a skit during a Jan. 24 game in Utah, a game he missed while at his ranch in Arkansas, Malone promised he’d be there next time.

“I said I would be in Utah,” he said Friday. “Unless I’m dead, I will be in Utah with the team.”

*

Even before Bryant’s latest shoulder injury, no one in the organization wanted to consider that he would miss a playoff game or more, and in the locker room this week Laker players were stunned by the possibility.

Judge Terry Ruckriegle scheduled pretrial hearings for April 26, 27 and 28. They might not all be necessary, but the chance that they will be will loom.

“What if we get into a dogfight?” one player asked.

That is, a six- or seven-game series, one or two of them without Bryant. Given the same dates from last year’s first round against the Minnesota Timberwolves, for example, Bryant would have missed Game 4, a Laker victory that evened the series at two games apiece. The Lakers won in six games.

The league is not likely to run its postseason around Bryant’s legal schedule.

*

Devean George hasn’t played well in a while, the reason he played 9.8 seconds Wednesday night in Houston.

According to Jackson, he’s not holding up particularly well, either.

“He’s despondent right now,” he said before the game.

*

Horace Grant experienced little improvement in his sore right hip and groin, did not play Friday night and is doubtful for Sunday.... Going into Friday’s game, Luke Walton had made his last four three-point attempts, two in the fourth quarter Wednesday. He missed two three-pointers against Seattle, but he had nine rebounds in 17 minutes.... Kareem Rush also has found his touch. After making 27 of 105 three-pointers in his first 1 1/2 seasons out of Missouri, Rush has made 31of his last 69, starting in mid-January.... The Lakers are 16-5 with Malone, Gary Payton, Shaquille O’Neal and Bryant in the starting lineup, 15-5 with three of the four, 7-6 with two and 2-5 with one. Payton is the only one to go it alone.... The longer O’Neal is away from shooting guru Bob Thate, the worse it gets; O’Neal shoots 54.9% from the free-throw line in the first two games of a trip, 41.5% from the third game on. He was two for 13 Wednesday in Houston, the fourth game of the trip.