Jackson Trying to Make Points

The best way to improve team defense is to work on it in practice. That’s the conventional wisdom.

But that’s not Laker Coach Phil Jackson’s style. Never has been. Never will be, even after the Lakers gave up 110 points to Orlando and 103 to the Clippers in consecutive games.

“We know what we have to do defensively,” said Jackson, whose team will play the Clippers again tonight at Staples Center. “These players know their defensive assignments. They’ll be fine.”

So instead of working his players on the court Thursday, Jackson had them watch tape of how they nearly blew a 17-point lead in a 106-103 victory over the Clippers on Wednesday.

It was the first time in three months that, as a team including Karl Malone and Kobe Bryant, the Lakers watched their play in a game together. The main subject?

Offense, of course.

“He wanted us to get a sense of how we were playing, execution-wise,” Bryant said of the meeting that lasted nearly an hour. “Our rhythm was pretty good in the first half, when we were moving and cutting. We got a lot of easy opportunities.

“We want to be able to do that on a more consistent basis so that we can cut teams up. When our offense execution is where we want it to be, our defensive balance is much better.

“We don’t do much in practice about defensive strategy or going over pick-and-roll coverages and things like that. It’s been Phil’s philosophy from Day 1 that our offense really controls the defensive tempo of our team. Taking good shots and having good defensive balance to get in and out of transition.”

For Gary Payton and Malone, in their first season in Jackson’s system, working through defensive help assignments in games instead of practice is something new.

“I don’t know [why we struggle on defense],” Payton said. “Probably because we haven’t worked at it. We don’t work at things like that ... on pick-and-rolls, a lot of guys are thinking, should they get help over here or not? ... We’re not on the same page level. When two guys are thinking something and three other guys thinking something else, your defense doesn’t work.”

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With 14 games left in the regular season, the Lakers have not given up on catching Sacramento and Minnesota. But that’s not their top priority.

Playing more consistent basketball and eliminating mental mistakes are more important.

“I don’t even worry about that too much,” Bryant said. “My focus is getting us to a place where we feel comfortable and have some momentum going into the playoffs.

“You can have home court, but if you go into the playoffs without

Worrying about whether the Lakers have enough time to jell before the playoffs with Malone back is not a concern for Jackson.

“It’s both an excuse and a reason but it’s neither one or the other,” he said. “You can’t throw that into a pile and say, ‘Well, we’ve only been together for four games, and therefore ... ‘ These are all professional ballplayers and they know how to play the game.

“There’s a certain responsibility that they have to themselves and each other. We need to keep pushing harder and harder going through this next month. The playoffs are a long time in the NBA, but you have to push yourself to a level where you can sustain more effort and coaching adjustments as you go through it.”

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Bryant on the recent difficult games the Lakers have had against sub-.500 teams -- the Clippers, Orlando and Chicago:

“It’s not playing with a sense of urgency right off the bat against bad teams. But we’re not going to play against bad teams in the playoffs anyway. The important thing is winning these games ... it doesn’t have to be pretty. A win nonetheless is healthy.”

TONIGHT

Clippers at Lakers, 7:30

Channel 5, Fox Sports Net

Site -- Staples Center.

Radio -- KLAC (570), KWKW (1330), XTRA (690/1150).

Records -- Lakers 45-23, Clippers 27-41.

Series record -- Lakers, 2-1.

Update -- Shaquille O’Neal scored 21 points, grabbed 10 rebounds and blocked three shots Wednesday. In his last six games, O’Neal is averaging 22 points, 13 rebounds and nearly three blocks. The Lakers have won three in a row.