Lakers take time to rest and zing Suns’ Steve Nash
The doors opened to another Lakers practice. The players off the court were almost as notable as those on it.
No Kobe Bryant. No Andrew Bynum.
The Lakers continued to prepare for the Phoenix Suns with two starters logging more time in the trainer’s room than the locker room, Bryant because of a sore right knee and Bynum because of torn cartilage in his right knee.
The entire team watched video together for about an hour Friday. Then the healthy ones headed to the court while Bynum and Bryant retreated to padded tables. They probably won’t get any full-court action until Game 1 Monday in the Western Conference finals, a one-week gap from their last game against Utah.
It was one of the main talking points on a day where Lakers Coach Phil Jackson zinged Phoenix guard Steve Nash for what he claimed were violations while handling the ball, in case any NBA referees were listening.
Jackson praised Nash this week for pushing the Suns past San Antonio despite playing with a comically swollen right eye, but he wasn’t as flattering when asked whether it was tough for the Lakers to simulate the perennial All-Star during their practices this week.
“Yeah, because you can’t carry the ball like he does in practice,” Jackson said. “Can’t pick that ball up and run with it.”
At any rate, the rest that Bynum and Bryant are taking is done out of the team’s rest-if-you-need-it mantra that began late in the regular season, when Bryant sat out four games and Bynum took his time coming back from a strained left Achilles’ tendon that sidelined him almost a month.
Still, Jackson said he had never conducted so many practices with two main pieces reduced to spectators this late in the season.
“They’ll be doing some stuff on the court I think [Saturday],” he said. “Participating in a full-out practice? Probably not. Shooting the ball and doing some things like that, we’ll get into that.”
Bynum was definitely more affected by his injury than Bryant in the last two games of the conference semifinals against Utah.
Bryant averaged 33.5 points in Games 3 and 4 against Utah. Bynum averaged three points in the same span, saying this week that he needed to be more active, “which is tough with the knee.”
Bryant sounded more hopeful than Bynum about the effects of rest.
“I love long layoffs,” he said. “I think it’s good for us. Everybody on our team is pretty much banged up.”
Layoff or not, Jackson didn’t think Bryant would miss a step.
“I do think that Kobe’s piqued for this series,” Jackson said. “He feels, like we do on this team, that we’ve got halfway through the playoffs in what is our march toward defending our title … and the job is still not done. We have a ways to go before we get to that spot.”
Celtic pride
Boston eliminated Cleveland in the Eastern Conference semifinals, leaving one team that would hold home-court advantage against the Lakers — the Orlando Magic.
“I’m not going to lie, I had Cleveland getting to the Finals,” Pau Gasol said. “It’s been surprising.”
The Lakers finished four games behind Cleveland and two behind Orlando in the final standings.
“It’s good that one of them is out, and we’ll see what happens next, but our job is to get there first,” Gasol said.
Los Suns, revisited
The Suns recently made national news by wearing “Los Suns” jerseys to make a statement against an Arizona law that has drawn national criticism from Latino and civil-rights groups that say it could lead to racial profiling of Latinos.
“I think it’s a pretty messy subject,” said Gasol, a citizen of Spain who spoke diplomatically on the issue. “I’m hoping it solves itself in the best way and it doesn’t cause too many problems and doesn’t cause violence in communities.”
Etc.
Gasol practiced Friday after a brief bout with sinusitis, and Sasha Vujacic also continued to practice after sitting out the first two playoff rounds because of a severely sprained left ankle.
“I basically told him there’s an opportunity for him to play in this series,” Jackson said.
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