Phil gave his thoughts on the players and fatigue.
Daily News: Lakers head coach Phil Jackson is thinking about giving his team some additional rest as the playoffs approach.
“I noticed they fell asleep on the plane last night, which is unusual for them,” Jackson said of how different his team looked from Friday night to Saturday morning. “They’re night owls. They all sleep in the morning when we fly in the mornings.”
Jackson called off their morning shootaround and held a film session on Saturday.
“You can see a drain on players all around the league,” he said. “Last night, I was watching Minnesota beat Dallas by 10, Orlando got beat by Washington. You see guys who are struggling, veteran players who play a lot of games.”
Jackson has already curtailed the team’s practice schedule.
“We really haven’t had a practice in two weeks,” Jackson said. “These guys rejoice in it because practice is practice. I get to work ‘em out the way I want to get it done. There are some joys to just playing games.”
Continue reading ‘Jackson: Players are wearing down’
Kobe could use some a lot of rest…
ESPN: “I would say he is day to day,” coach Phil Jackson told the Lakers’ official Web site. “We have an opportunity here with two games before the All-Star break and there is some time there if he does need to take a longer time, we’re trying to give him the liberty to do that.”
Andrew Bynum got banged up a bit too; he also sat out the 2nd half of the Portland game.
L.A. Times: Center is wearing two knee braces and he sits out the second half because of a hip contusion.
Lakers center Andrew Bynum has been wearing another knee brace, this one because of swelling in his sore left knee.
Bynum said he was injured when he collided with Charlotte Bobcats forward Stephen Jackson during Wednesday night’s game at Staples Center.
Bynum still played in the game Friday night against the Denver Nuggets and Saturday night against Portland, but he is in pain.
Bynum started at center against the Trail Blazers, but he didn’t look mobile. He logged only nine minutes, and didn’t play at all in the second half because of a right hip contusion.
“It’s some swelling in it and I’m trying to get it out,” Bynum said of the knee before the game. “The only way to do that is rest. So over the All-Star break with that time that we have, I should be able to get back.”
That it’s the same knee that he had surgery on didn’t leave Bynum nervous. “I knew it was swollen up,” he said. “But it’s not anything that’s going to be too bad.
“It’s like a pain thing [and] range of motion. I’ve just got to get the swelling out and get back up. I’ll be getting treatment and just chillin’.”
Continue reading ‘Andrew Bynum banged up too’
Derek is too valuable to let go, whether many fans like it or not.
O.C. Register: I did not tell Derek Fisher he is slow and done and the problem with the Lakers.
I did the next-best thing, as far as many Lakers fans are concerned: I told Fisher you think he is slow and done and the problem with the Lakers.
He smiled.
He could smile because he is uncommonly confident and because I was bringing it up at a time when Fisher had just reiterated his worth not just to this franchise through the past but to this team right now.
He had 14 points on 50 percent shooting, six assists, two steals and one turnover Saturday night, when the Lakers won in Portland without sore-ankled Kobe Bryant. Beyond the numbers, Fisher was the undeniable leader on the court all night long – Pau Gasol might be the second All-Star, but he was the one needing counsel from Fisher during second-half warmups – with words that alternately educated and encouraged so many teammates.
It was no coincidence that Fisher was more assertive in Bryant’s absence.
“He and I are co-captains, and we work together to manage this team,” Fisher said. “So when he’s out, I know guys are going to look to me more than usual, so I just try to be even more vocal, more aggressive, stronger out there on the floor. They need to see me not worried about the fact that Kobe’s not playing – and I don’t think they’ll worry much about it either.”
I did not tell Fisher he is slow and done and the problem with the Lakers because I do not believe it is true – even if so many others do.
Continue reading ‘Why Fisher is still good for the Lakers’
After last night’s loss to Denver, a game that the Lakers SHOULD have and COULD have won, a trip to the Rose Garden in Portland the day after seemed the least likely source of redemption and encouragement.
The losing streak in that arena for the Lakers is completely incomprehensible.
How can a team have that much bad luck in one place? If history served its purpose tonight, we’d be looking at another hash mark under the L-column, and given Kobe’s absence from the line-up, it might’ve been a relatively acceptable loss. Thankfully, there was no loss to accept. Instead, there is a victory to relish.
The first shot for the Lakers came from a Lamar Odom tip-in after an offensive rebound off an Andrew Bynum miss. It was a foreshadowing, to say the least, as Odom rebounded all evening to match his career-high of 22 boards. If rebounds signify effort, the Lakers were full of it, out-rebounding the Blazers 47-30 and playing a most inspired evening of basketball.
They won every quarter after the first, bearing down their defensive prowess as the game wore on.
In the 3rd quarter, the Lakers kept Portland to 16 points and then only 18 in the fourth. But it wasn’t just defense that won this game tonight. It was also a balanced offensive attack.
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Kobe out for tonight’s game. Never thought I’d type that sentence again. Thank God we have Sasha to step-up! Ugh. Who am I kidding? The curse continues after tonight. Seriously folks, Lakers squad need to play one perfect game to escape with a win in Portland.
Lakers Basketblog: Lakers guard Kobe Bryant will miss Saturday evening’s game in Portland due to his sprained left ankle, an injury he originally suffered in Philadelphia on Jan. 29 and that he aggravated against Charlotte on Wednesday.
It will be the first game Bryant has missed due to injury since Dec. 8, 2006, when a sprained ankle kept him out of L.A.’s game against Atlanta.
He will be re-evaluated on Sunday in Los Angeles; the Lakers next game is on Monday, Feb. 8, against San Antonio.
If most of you agree with what Kobe says then reading what he says will calm you down.
Sports Radio Interviews: Kobe Bryant joined ESPN 710 in Los Angeles with Mason and Ireland to talk about the play of the Lakers this season, dealing with the injury that he is dealing with, what it would mean to him to break Jerry West’s scoring record and whether or not he wants the team to make a trade before the deadline.
A sample of what Kobe was asked and how he responded. Probably the main question asked.
“Should the Lakers make a trade before the deadline?”
“No. I love my guys. I love my guys. I love how we’re built and I love what we have and I’d love a chance to repeat with the group that we have here right now. Obviously Mitch (Kupchak) has to do his job and I won’t get in the way of that but from my personal standpoint, I love the group and crew that we have.”
“Why has Ron Artest been struggling alot this season?”
“Everybody talks about me playing through injuries but he’s as tough as I am. He’s playing through injuries as well. He’s got two fingers that are jacked up and he’s got plantar fasciitis in both of his feet. He’s playing through some tough things right now. It’s just a matter of him playing, contributing where he can and getting healthy at the same time.”
Continue reading ‘Kobe Bryant the greatest Laker ever?’
Update: Kobe not playing tonight. Game #1,000 will have to wait for another time.
After 13 and a half incredible seasons, Kobe Bryant will mark another milestone tonight, game #1,000.
It’s hard to say whether this milestone is bitter sweet. In most cases, the 1,000th game marks the final stages of a players career – but it’s easy to see that Kobe’s still in his prime. Derek Fisher trails Kobe with 997 career games; his 1,000th game will be played against Utah on February 10th.
The big games comes off an embarrassing loss to Denver, and if you’re a believer in habitual losses, it doesn’t get better. Game #1,000 will be played in Portland’s Rose Garden where the Lakers have failed to capture a victory since Feb. 23, 2005.
What a better way to celebrate than to end that streak.
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Yahoo! Sports: The Lakers and Nuggets won’t know for another few months who’s got the other’s number. For now, though, give Denver the edge.
Chauncey Billups scored a career-high 39 points, including nine 3-pointers, and the Nuggets won 126-113 Friday night, ending the Lakers’ eight-game home winning streak and improving to 2-0 against them.
Billups was 12 of 20 from the floor, including 9 of 13 from 3-point range, and made 6 of 8 free throws to go with eight assists for the Nuggets, who played without Carmelo Anthony for the seventh straight game because of a sprained left ankle.
“You’ve always got to be confident. There’s a lot of people that can say it, but until you can do it, you’ve got to get that confidence from the right place,” Billups said. “They’re the world champs. But we feel that we can compete with them.”
Billups scored 21 points in the third quarter alone, the most against the Lakers in one period since Wilt Chamberlain of the Philadelphia 76ers had 23 in a game in February 1966. Billups’ nine 3-pointers were the second-most ever against the Lakers.
“He was shooting considerably beyond the line,” Lakers coach Phil Jackson said. “I’m just glad that didn’t happen in a playoff game.”
Kobe Bryant scored 33 points on his sprained left ankle, but the first-place Lakers proved no match for the Western Conference’s No. 2 team, the one they beat in last year’s conference finals en route to their 15th NBA championship.
“I could still be effective and play,” Bryant said tersely. “Obviously, I’m not as explosive as I was but I can still command double teams, things like that.”
Continue reading ‘Lakers are defenseless in ugly loss to Nuggets’
An interesting article that has some answers to the Lakers’ recent struggles.
L.A. Times: The Lakers have been banged up for quite a while now.
There was Pau Gasol’s left hamstring injury,Ron Artest’s plantar fasciitis and Lamar Odom’s recent sprain to his right index finger. Of course, there’s also Kobe Bryant’s eight-week-long fractured right index finger and his recently aggravated left ankle, though he will still suit up tonight against Denver.
The Lakers are also tired, coming off an eight-game, 13-day East Coast trip that consisted of stops to Cleveland, New York, Toronto, Washington, Indiana, Philadelphia, Boston and Memphis. When asked whether the Lakers’ fatigue is more mental or physical, Lakers forward Lamar Odom laughed and said, “It’s both.” Therefore, it’s practically an understatement to say the Lakers look forward to some rest.
Said Coach Phil Jackson, “We see that All-Star break and think that will be real good for this team.”
But the Lakers will have to wait. They have four games remaining before All-Star weekend, with contests all featuring playoff-caliber opponents including a back-to-back starting tonight against Denver and Saturday at Portland. The Lakers then return home for a game Monday against San Antonio before traveling for a Wednesday game against Utah. Forward Pau Gasol describes these contests as a “very tough stretch” for reasons beyond the team’s health concerns. That’s because the Lakers have all lost rather handily to the aforementioned opponents this season.
Said Gasol, “We have to prove what kind of team we are and if we want to be champions again.”
Continue reading ‘The Lakers try to grind it out before All Star break’
