Changes to Lineup Could Be Coming

Basketball can be a dirty game.

In the Lakers’ last two outings, Phil Jackson has used “mud bath” and “mired” to describe what he has seen, which led him to Wednesday’s practice, where he was “coarse” with the starters beforehand -- his words, again -- and threatened lineup changes if things didn’t improve.

Kobe Bryant, Lamar Odom and Chris Mihm are presumably safe, but Brian Cook and Smush Parker were ineffective in the Lakers’ 90-84 loss Tuesday to the San Antonio Spurs.

Jackson singled out Cook as having had a poor game -- “non-existent,” he said -- and did not rule out Sasha Vujacic appearing soon as a starter in the backcourt.

Cook, playing in place of Kwame Brown, missed all seven of his shots against the Spurs and went scoreless in 17 minutes. Parker had 10 points in 27 minutes and has been struggling defensively. Vujacic matched Parker’s point total in 20 minutes.

“I had to be coarse with them today about some of the things that they’re not getting accomplished on the floor as a starting unit,” Jackson said. “Some of it is playing defense too. Obviously, that’s as big a part of it as anything else.

“They’ve got a short, short leash. Their time as starters is going to be limited. We’re going to have to make some changes. I said I would give them an opportunity again [tonight against Utah]. We just need to find five guys that want to play together.”

As for Jackson’s recent spate of “dirty” words to describe the Lakers’ play ...

“This is an offense that you would call an equal-opportunity offense,” he said. “It’s not very equal right now.”

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With one game left in his predicted scoring spree, Odom is averaging 19.3 points over his last three games.

Odom stated his intention last week to average 20 points over four games, a decree quickly shot down by Jackson, who reminded Odom he was one of the few Lakers who understood the concept of team basketball.

Regardless, Odom would need 22 points against Utah to reach his initial goal of 80 points over four games.

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Jackson’s radio show debuts Monday on Sirius Satellite Radio, although he is still learning about Sirius’ commercial-free format.

“I don’t know,” Jackson said. “I’ve never listened to it.”

Future guests include Bill Bradley, Bill Walton and Howard Stern, Jackson said.

TONIGHT

at Utah, 7:30 PST, Ch. 9, TNT

Site -- Delta Center.

Radio -- 570; 1330.

Records -- Lakers 5-8; Jazz 6-9.

Record vs. Jazz (2004-05) -- 1-3.

Update -- The Jazz is hurting for offense and scored its fewest points ever in a home game in an 84-60 loss Tuesday against Indiana. Andrei Kirilenko had seven points in his first game back after sitting out seven games because of a sprained ankle.