Jackson looks to the past

They did it once, they can do it again.

In the 2000-01 season, Coach Phil Jackson recalled, the defending champion Lakers struggled, got a key player back with nine games left, won them all, then went 15-1 in the playoffs en route to another title.

“We had a team like that the second year I was here,” Jackson said before Friday’s game. “Kobe [Bryant] came back from some injuries with nine games left and we lost one playoff game.”

Of course, that team had Shaquille O’Neal as well as Bryant.

“They [this season’s team] don’t have the same talent, but yes, you have to be able to compare them,” Jackson said, “because there was a level that this team played at that was pretty high.”

Jackson said he had his own bad moments but has gotten over them.

“I went through that about a month ago with this team. Then we had our injuries.

“When you go through a situation like that, you have to be unflappable. I flap a lot, but that part, I’m pretty good at, knowing that we’ll get our players back.”

One player they probably won’t get back is Chris Mihm, who has been out all season but talked recently about being ready for the playoffs.

“Very, very small possibility that he would be able to play,” Jackson said. “I can’t see that.”

Jackson no longer worries about where they’re going to finish, knowing they’re not likely to catch the teams above them ... and confident that they won’t be caught by the ones below them.

“We’ve slid far enough, it’s just like a sequence of when [they start winning again],” Jackson said. “Before, I was like, ‘Where do we want to go, what would it be wonderful to be at?’ But at this particular point, our year is about finding momentum. ...

“There’s a repetition of defeats that kind of sets in and gets to be a pattern. They have to break out of that part, themselves. There are some guys that are facing that defeatism.”

mark.heisler@latimes.com