Well, this doesn't figure to do a lot for inter-hallway relationships.

In his pregame session before Friday's game with the Clippers, Phil Jackson was asked whether he believed in curses, and turned it into a nice little shot at Clippers owner Donald T. Sterling.
Let's go to the tape:

Reporter: Do you believe in curses, or jinxes or hexes?
Jackson: No, I don't. I do think -- I'm of that generation that believes in karma. I do think there is karma in effect, ultimately, but I can't claim anybody else's karma. That's their own making. If you do a good mitzvah, maybe you can then eliminate some of those things? You think Sterling's done enough mitzvahs to eliminate some of those things?
Reporter: He's been an award-winning humanitarian, many times over.
Jackson: Yeah, but how about all those other incidents we have on file?
Reporter: This I don't know.
Jackson: OK, me neither.

To be honest, there's not a lot to add about this game than what you'll see in the column in Saturday's paper: That the Cavaliers outworked the Lakers, the Lakers were generally bad (the bench particularly so) and that the Lakers lost their cool in pretty spectacular fashion.

But here are a few postgame comments that didn't make it into that column:
Phil Jackson, on Shaquille O'Neal, who had 11 points and seven rebounds (and on the officiating):
"He definitely had a presence in the game. ... I do know that he was a factor on Kobe. Shaq knocked him over a few times without even a call. Whether he went straight up or right into Kobe, that's the referee's job to make that determination. But he was definitely a presence out there

O'Neal, on the Cavs' showing:
"I'm not surprised. We konw we can match up well with anybody. I felt yesterday that it was going to be a good test for us. ... Most of the games we have lost, we have beat ourselves. Today we came out, we stepped up to the challenge."

LeBron James on the defense of the Cavs, who held the Lakers to 36.5 percent shooting:
"I think it ranks up there just because of the caliber of team and the caliber of players that they have and (it's) on the road. I think you could definitely rank this up there as one of the best ones we've had this year. But that's just us. Defensively, we fly around. We help each other. Everyone did a wonderful job of communicating, trusting the system and just being aggressive."

Pau Gasol, on needing more balanced scoring (Bryant had 35 points Friday; the other four starters combined for 35 points):
"Everybody has to be conscious of what we have to do out there to have a balanced game. That's how you're supposed to do it. You can't expect it to happen. ... We can't cruise and expect things to come our way just because we have such high quality of players."

First off, to anyone who happens by the blog today, Merry Christmas.

It is, of course, a work day in the NBA, and for those of us who follow it. And so, as the Lakers and Cavaliers prepare to meet, Phil Jackson was asked about between the Shaquille O'Neal he coached and the one now in a Cavs jersey.
"Well, he could run a 10-flat 100-yard dash back then," said Jackson. "Now he's about 12. ... So he's slowed down a little bit. He still has the power. You've got to be careful around him in the lane, and he's going to get to the middle and he's going to do some things."
One of the writers asked if Jackson didn't mean that was Shaq's time in the 60, not the 100.
"I wouldn't demean Shaq's capabilities like that," Jackson said, smiling.
The Lakers coach was asked, given a roster including O'Neal and LeBron James, if the Cavs didn't have personnel suited to the triangle offense.
"They get into it a lot," he said. "You're going to notice that tonight, that they get into an overload on the sideline and they run a triangle. They don't call it a triangle. But they'll be in that format a lot tonight."
From the TV department: Jackson -- who often tweaks TV's influence over the NBA -- was asked if a five-game Christmas Day schedule wasn't watering down the product.
"Tomorrow we'll know the ratings," he said, drily. "That will tell the story. I'm sure the NBA is hoping for great ratings."

A few odds and ends from Thursday's Lakers practice:
-- Pau Gasol thinks the NBA's Christmas Day games were on TV when he was growing up in Spain, but he's not sure.
"We didn't really watch much TV on Christmas," he said. "It was a day we spent totally with the family and gifts. ... Our parents did not want the TV on. It was forbidden."
It was OK, on the other hand, to actually go out and play a little basketball
"Yeah, you can do that," he said. "That was acceptable, if it wasn't too cold."
-- Unlike a lot of players, Derek Fisher doesn't really mind playing on Christmas Day.
"I think it would be more weird to not work on Christmas," he said. "... I think for a lot of guys, you realize how special it is to be in the business and be on that stage. ...
"I think the amount of gifts my kids receive, they could care whether I'm there or not to play with them, because they have quite a lot. So I think that part is covered. Santa will do his job, and everybody will be happy."
-- Phil Jackson, on the other hand, doesn't really love the Christmas game.
"It's become part of the business," he said. "You never really want to get used to routines, but it's a routine that seems to be elevated, so it's kind of like a keynote part of the season. ...
"Fortunately for me, I have a family that will travel and come down to where we're playing, usually. So it's made the day OK."
On the other hand, he noted, it's not as if holiday games are anything new: "I think we played on every holiday there was a year ago -- Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year's, Easter, Mother's Day, Martin Luther King Day."
-- Jackson and Kobe Bryant said the knee Bryant appeared to have injured in Tuesday's game with Oklahoma City is not a big issue. Bryant participated fully in Thursday's practice.
"I think there's some tenderness there," said Jackson. "But he says he's fine. It's remarkable."
Bryant said, "It's good. No problems. No issues."

Kobe Bryant landed in an awkward fashion, and a lot of people held their breath.
The fans at Staples Center. Coach Phil Jackson. Kobe. And, probably, people at ABC, imagining their Christmas Day Kobe-LeBron extravaganza hobbling off on crutches.
Bryant's knee-buckling landing when followed by Nick Collison midway through the fourth quarter of Tuesday's 111-108 win over Oklahoma City looked exactly like the kind of thing that spells long-term injury.
It didn't turn out that way.
Bryant played the rest of the way -- going all 12 minutes in the fourth quarter and 44 minutes for the night -- scoring 40 points as the Lakers rallied from a 12-point deficit, then held on. And afterward, he said the left knee was no big deal.
"A little sore right now, but it's OK," he said. "I just landed on it funny."
Not that there was anything humorous to the Lakers about seeing their star on the floor for a long time, assessing the state of the joint in question.
"I was very concerned," he said. "I had to do my MCL check, my ACL check. Everything was intact, so I was good to go."
The Staples Center crowd groaned when the play was shown on the arena's video boards -- with good reason.
"We're fortunate that he didn't do something disastrous," said Jackson. "That had shades of Karl Malone, you know?"
Bryant, though, said he was unconcerned the knee would stiffen up overnight.
"I'm Bruce Willis, man," he said. "I'm fine."
Saw it coming: Phil Jackson's decision to practice Monday -- when a day off might have seemed in order -- was all the more understandable in the wake of a slow start salvaged with the help of one solid quarter, the third.
"That's the only quarter we won," said Jackson. "We had a good third quarter. We played the way we anticipated we should play, defensively and offensively. ...
"You see enough of this game and how people compete, and what it's like to have a trip and come back -- Oklahoma's in L.A. longer than we were. ... Just getting ourselves back in the flow and playing the right way took some time."
Said Bryant, "That's all it is -- get back in rhythm. The first home game back is always tough, trying to find that groove again at home.
"It took us a half or so, but we were finally able to get back into it."
Defensive play in the third quarter -- when the Lakers held the Thunder to 21 points -- allowed the Lakers to find that groove.
"We trust our defense," Bryant said. "And we understand what we're capable of doing. So it was really just a matter of finding that rhythm again."
Things get tougher: From now on, the Lakers are going to have a lot fewer chances to get away with the kind of sluggish start they overcame against the Thunder -- mostly because the softest part of the schedule is definitely behind them.
Because the annual Christmas Day games are, according to tradition -- or, more accurately, the dictates of TV -- when the NBA season gears up a notch, the degree to which the Lakers have had a favorable schedule may be even greater than it seems, even with 18 home games in the first 27 contests.
The toughest opponents are, for the most part, still to come.
Before Tuesday's games, the Lakers led the group of nine teams with a winning percentage of .600 or better. To date, they've played five games against the other eight top teams -- two with Phoenix and one each with Atlanta, Dallas and Denver. (And they're just 3-2 in those games.)
That leaves 19 games still to come against those top eight foes, including both meetings with Boston, Orlando and Cleveland, and all four games against San Antonio.
Thanks to TV, those games start coming Friday, with a lot more regularity.

Even coming off a road trip that saw them play four games in six days, finishing with back-to-back wins at New Jersey and Detroit, Phil Jackson brought the Lakers in for practice on Monday. Before Tuesday's game with Oklahoma City, he acknowledged this was in recognition that Tuesday's game was something of a trap game, and not just because the Christmas Day extravaganza with Cleveland is up next.
"Yesterday we had practice because the tough game out of a road trip is the first game coming home, usually," he said. " ... I think you let down your guard a little bit when you come home, and think you can just come out and play. And you can't really do that in basketball, the NBA. You have to have an idea what you want to do. You have to have a way to get it done. You have to have that determination.
"Road games take a different mentality, there's no doubt. You have to play close to the chest, you have to limit your fouls, keep the crowd under control if you can. At home, you're more free. You can shoot 3-pointers. But you've still got to be defensively stronger."
Jackson described the Monday session as mostly "kind of a skill-drill practice, finding rhythm for an offense -- you don't stand around and shoot shots, or don't give the ball to someone and go one-on-one. How to do that, the togetherness that you have to have.
"So we did kind of that. We played four-on-four and that was kind of fun. We had one of those bristling, kind of feisty practices."
Short-term goal: Jackson -- who challenged the team to win the last four games on the trip that began with a loss at Utah -- reset the target for the next week.
"We want to win out in the month of December," he said. "That's a tough chore. We have two sets of back-to-backs -- 25th-26th, 28th-29th -- to go for it, but that's really what our goal is."
The Lakers follow the Cleveland game with a game at Sacramento, then play at Phoenix and come home to face Golden State -- the start of a four-game homestand -- to close out 2009.

Seems that New Orleans Hornets dynasty left before it ever arrived.
Hard to believe, really, how bad the Hornets looked -- like a lackluster collection of ill-fitting parts -- in Sunday's 104-88 loss to the Lakers. When Chris Paul -- your all-everything guard -- has only a shade more impact than Shannon Brown (Paul: 15 points, nine assists; Brown, 15 points, two assists) you definitely have issues.
The ease of the victory over a team that just two seasons ago was among the league elite was clearly a surprise to the Lakers.
"This was a game that we believed was going to be a really, really tough game," said Kobe Bryant. "Because of that, I think everybody's antennae were up, everybody was extremely focused and ready to go, especially because they just had a tough one at home against Toronto. "
The current state of the Hornets (2-6) appears to have the team at least a little bit stumped.
"I don't know -- play better," Paul said, when asked what it would take to reverse the start. "We just got to do better. It's a long season. We've got to try to fix it. I don't know what to say. ...
"We're missing our defense and our ability to score. Like I keep saying, we're capable. So we're just going to have to figure it out."
Coach Byron Scott is tinkering with the lineup, looking for a solution.
"Guys just have to be aggressive and have a lot of confidence in themselves so they can get the job done, and I think we can," said Scott. "It's just a matter of guys taking the initiative at times and not relying on just CP and David (West)."
Lakers coach Phil Jackson is not about to bury the Hornets -- 56-26 in 2007-08, and 49-33 last year -- just yet.
"Obviously, with West and Chris Paul, the two major standbys on their team, guys that are scorers, now they have to fill in the blanks behind that," he said. Last year's team was derailed, he noted, by the "unorthodox situation" when Tyson Chandler was traded to Oklahoma City, only to end up back in New Orleans because he failed his physical with the Thunder. Chandler was traded to Charlotte during the offseason; that one stuck.
"Things just didn't work out right," said Jackson. "I think that kind of sunk their hopes for last season.
"Now they've got a new season. We have to wait and see. It's too early in the season to make any statement about them."
Big run: The Lakers led throughout but put the game away with a 15-2 run to start the second half, part of a third quarter that saw Shannon Brown score 13 of his 15 points.
"I was particularly proud of Shannon," said Jackson, "taking (Derek Fisher's) spot after a couple of tough calls to get in to foul trouble, and just doing the things that we've seen him do and anticipate he can do."
For New Orleans, the third quarter was a familiar scenario; in the Hornets' previous game, they were outscored 34-14 in the third by Toronto and lost 107-90.
"The third quarter is killing us," said Scott, whose team stays in L.A. to play the Clippers Monday. "It's two straight games where we come out and the team just kind of dominates us in that third quarter, and we've got to solve that problem quick."
Brown, leading a 46-point night for the bench, said the team is not going to just bide its time and wait for the return of injured big men Pau Gasol and Andrew Bynum.
"We practice every day and everyone is very confident in their ability to come out and get the job done," said Brown. "We play as a team, but at the same time, we definitely can't wait for those guys to come back. They will make it easier on everybody."
The Mbig man: DJ Mbenga, filling in as center with Gasol and Bynum out, had 10 points and 12 rebounds, but Jackson said he's still not showing his full capabilities.
"We actually think his game has deteriorated some," said Jackson. "He plays better in practice that he's been able to do in games. So we're not thrilled at what he's doing out there. We know what his capabilities are; he's not hitting his shot. But his defense and his rebounding and his shot-blocking ability are part of what we see in his daily workout regimen."
Part of this, Jackson believes, is because of abdominal and groin issues that forced Mbenga to miss the first part of training camp: "I think he's been stretched to the limit of what he physically can do. Running hasn't been easy for him."

Finishing up the exit interviews, and the 2008-09 season:

Now that the title is won, everyone wants to know, what are the chances the Lakers can repeat?
Phil Jackson certainly won't pull a Pat Riley and predict a successful defense of the NBA title, but clearly enjoys the possibility, assuming the team stays together.
"Age wise, it certainly favors this team," he said at a Friday media session as the team wrapped up its exit interviews. "The team that did it in Chicago was an older team, and the team that did it here in the first part of the decade was an older team than this team is. So age-wise, they certainly have an advantage."
He also said it would "be nice to have that possibility" of bringing the team back to defend its title.
"One year in Chicago when we won the 72 games," he said, "I think we actually asked the league if we could bypass drafting a draft pick, which wasn't possible. ... And we traded Travis Knight to the Lakers, and kept the 12 players intact that were on that team. And they won 69 games the next year, so that really set the table for that being able to happen.
"If this team could do that, it would be remarkable in this day and age, especially with the number of free agents we have."
Jackson also shared at least a little of his Thursday conversation with President Barack Obama.
"Basically, I told him that sometimes when you're a lefty, sometimes you've got to go right to shoot the ball," he joked.
"No, we talked about going to the White House ... and we talked about some basketball things. And he obviously wanted to congratulate us on a great season."
Jackson said he hoped the team could make its White House trip "before the season starts, or during the season when we have an appropriate game in the territory" -- which is to say when the Lakers play the Wizards -- "which we've done before. ... It's going to be tough for us to get that together before then."
Parting thoughts: Jackson was asked if he'd heard anything that surprised him during the players' exit interviews.
"Well, yes," he said. "I did. I don't think I can share it with you."
Speaking generally, he added, "This is a challenge. I have to challenge some of the players, and there's some players that I felt didn't perform up to what I wanted ... and I wanted them to reconsider their dedication to the team and their work and their ability and come back with a fresh attitude.
That's part of my job to do that. It wasn't all pats on the back and have a great summer. This is going to be three or four months before we have a chance to go forward again ... so players have to have a certain dedication to what they want to do this summer."
No break: General manager Mitch Kupchak said he probably wouldn't really have time to savor the victory until August, once the draft and free-agent process are complete, and the Lakers have their roster together for next season.
With that draft on Thursday -- the Lakers have three picks -- Kupchak said there was a very good chance the team would select at least one foreign player it wouldn't need to bring to camp immediately.
"If we bring back the players we want to bring back on this team, we'll have at least 13 or 14 players on our roster," he said. "So it stands to reason if you bring all three draft picks to camp, you're going to have 17, and the NBA only allows 15.
"So we would look to either move a pick, trade a pick, exchange picks for future picks, or pick a player and look for them to play overseas for at least a year."
Wrapping up: Not surprisingly, Kobe Bryant called the championship season "extremely satisfying, because we put in a lot of time and energy to fix things and get better in certain things. And to see that finally happen for us, it's great."
He also noted that after eight preseason games, 82 regular-season games, and 23 playoff games, it was hard to get used to time off.
"It ends pretty abruptly," he said. "You kind of go through that phase where you wake up in the morning and feel like you're supposed to be doing something. It feels like you're late for something.
"That's the way goes. You're going and going full throttle, and all of a sudden, boom, it's over."

As expected -- and, in fact, reported in advance by a number of outlets -- the NBA announced prior to Game 2 of the NBA Finals that it had awarded the 2011 NBA All-Star game and related events to Staples Center.
The game -- the fifth to be played in L.A., returning after just seven years -- will be Sunday, Feb. 20, with other events on Friday (rookie game) and Saturday (skills, 3-point and slam dunk competitions).
The relatively short turnaround between all-star games is unusual, but may well be the wave of the future.
"We're likely to shorten the rotation a bit," said commissioner David Stern, "because it's getting hard to find cities with the kind of amenities (necessary) -- the close-in hotel accommodations, the convention center, and the like. And L.A. has been a popular destination. When we started looking at the rotation, this seemed a good time to do it."
That hints at one key point -- the game has to be someplace that players want to go if you want them to participate -- but doesn't really address another: A lot of teams want nothing to do with the all-star game because, by the time the NBA takes its share of the tickets, virtually none are left for the host team's season-ticket holders, which tends to alienate the fan base. The 2011 event is actually awarded to Staples, not to either the Lakers or the Clippers, which bypasses some of those issues.
Tim Leiweke, the CEO of AEG -- the company owning Staples and the surrounding L.A. Live complex -- said the all-star game will be the first major event hosted by Staples with the entire complex -- hotels, theaters and restaurants -- complete.
More from the rather self-congratulatory press conference involving Stern, Leiweke, and mayor Antonio Villaraigosa after the game.

A couple of comments from the coaches' pregame media conferences:
-- Phil Jackson, on what he expects from Orlando:
"We have to look at the fact that it's an uptempo team. They didn't have a whole lot of transition offense in the last game, so probably look for early offense.
"The other aspect of the game is how much will they go to the post? The final thing we have to prevent is penetration through screen-rolls and that liberates a lot of the 3-point shooters. We know they're going to get 3-point shots. We just want to be able to contest them."
-- Stan Van Gundy, asked if the decision to playing Jameer Nelson in Game 1 was largely about preparing him for later in the series:
"It didn't really enter into my thinking. I just thought that he wuld play pretty well, and I thought playing him would give us the best chance to win in Game 1. It didn't work out that way, not because of Jameer obviously, but it didn't work out that way.
"But that's my only thinking. I wasn't thinking to Game 3 or Game 4."

Back about 10:30 or so with a postgame entry.

For one more night, at least, Shaquille O'Neal's self-proclaimed status as "most dominant ever" is quite secure.
That's because the Lakers managed to make Orlando Magic center Dwight Howard look fairly ordinary in their 100-75 victory in Game 1 of the NBA Finals, as Howard went just one of six from the field and finished with 12 points, although he did have 15 rebounds and a couple of blocked shots.
"Their inside game, which is a big part of their game, we were exceptional on that tonight," said Lakers coach Phil Jackson. "A lot of fouls for Dwight (he was 10 of 16 at the line), but nothing really in the lane."
Pau Gasol had some successful turns defending Howard, drawing two offensive fouls, the first of which was Howard's second foul, taking him out of the game with 2:23 left in the first quarter.
"You've got to make sure you mix it up with him," said Gasol, "keep a body on him at all times and try to make him catch a little farther off the low post and then move your feet. I was able to move my feet well around him -- don't allow him to feel me, get a feel for me. ...
"You have to be able to move around because if you let him hit you with his body, he's going to gain ground, and he's going to get that position."
Howard said the Lakers did indeed vary their approach.
"When I caught in the post," he said, "they really sat in my lap and they forced me to pass it out for guys to shoot, and they mixed it up. They forced me baseline, and when I tried to turn baseline, they had somebody waiting for me right there.
"I saw that during the game. I just wasn't patient enough to pick it apart. ... It's not about what they did. I think for us it's just our effort wasn't there."
Lakers center Andrew Bynum was, predictably, limited by foul trouble, playing just 22 minutes (and getting nine points and nine rebounds), but had some effective defensive work against Howard.
"He had some times out there that I thought he played him really well," said Jackson. "He did a good job defensively to try to cover the screen roll."
Said Bynum, "I tried to swing back every time on defense so he couldn't (get low post position. He's definitely going to come out very aggressive next game and try to pin everyone he can."

Other postgame quotes:
Howard, on Kobe Bryant's 40-point night, and Orlando's response:
"You know, when he's got everything going, every shot in the world, nothing we can do about that. The things we can do is play harder, play more aggressive. On the defensive end, go for more loose balls.
"We can control that stuff. But somebody making those unbelievable shots, there's nothing we can do about it."

Rashard Lewis, saying Bryant wasn't really the issue:
"Kobe's a great player. He's going to come out and play great. Was really hurt us was on the defensive end of the floor. The points in the paint, the rebounding really hurt us. Maybe next game we've got to take the ball out of his hands and try to make somebody else beat us, but they're a very talented team."
The Lakers outrebounded Orlando 55-41, and had a 56-22 advantage in points in the paint.

Jameer Nelson, asked if he thought he might be starting before the series is over:
"I doubt it. I'm not coming back to start. I'm coming back just to relieve Ray (Rafer Alston) when he needs a break and just do what the team needs. ... I think he's done a great job and no matter what, he deserves to start."

Trevor Ariza, on Orlando's 30 percent shooting (23 for 77):
"They didn't hit shots that they normally make, but I think we rushed them a little bit and got them out of their comfort zone.""

Derek Fisher, ask if that shooting was about Orlando's offense or the Lakers' defense:
"I think it's a combination of both. I think we made it hard for them to get to the spots where they like to operate. They have lots of good open looks at the basket, but at the same time the shots that we know they are making just happened to not go in tonight. They won't be shooting 29 percent probably again the rest of this series."

Back later (probably around midnight, after I'm home) with some of the David Stern press conference from earlier.

It's official: You'll see Jameer Nelson tonight.
The Magic point guard, who last played on Feb. 2, has been activitated for the first game of the NBA Finals and will "probably" play, according to Orlando coach Stan Van Gundy.
"In the end, we just think he's ready to go, think he can put some pressure on their defense, and we think he'll get better as the series goes on," said Van Gundy.
That bumps Anthony Johnson down in the guard rotation, and pushes former Lakers guard Ty Lue off the active list altogether.
"It was really, really tough," said Van Gundy, "to take two great veteran guys and tell Ty Lue that he was going to be on the inactive list ... and to tell Anthony Johnson, at least in the beginning here, that I was going to play Jameer ahead of him, when we've made it all the way to the finals without Jameer."
Lakers coach Phil Jackson said his team had not discussed Nelson "by name. We've discussed positions. ...
"Jameer obviously was playing at a high level," said Jackson, "but I think Rafer (Alston) filled in and almost in many ways was identical to what they wanted to have done."
Jackson was in something of a similar situation last year, bringing Trevor Ariza into the finals after he'd been sidelined for some time with an injury.
"It's a matter of how comfortable a player feels on the floor," said Jackson, "and you get a sense of that when they're out there, how they move through traffic, and they're playing unimpeded. They'll get a sense of that almost immediately, I would think?"
And how, Jackson was asked, did that work out with Ariza?
"I didn't think he felt comfortable," he said, "otherwise we probably would have played him more."
The boss speaks: Pregame activities for Game 1 also included commissioner David Stern's annual state of the game press conference -- it's still going on as I write -- and I know you'll be shocked to hear that everything is great in the NBA, that Stern considers this a game for the ages. Everything is always fine as Stern spins his way through this session, with the possible exception of the one here last year when he was dealing with Tim Donaghy fallout.
I'll pass along a few more of Stern's thoughts after the game, when there are no pregame time constraints, but Lakers fans might find particularly interesting his answer about Lakers owner Jerry Buss and his impact in the league, particularly in terms of incorporating entertainment into the NBA experience:
"Jerry, quite simply, was a pioneer in understanding what the value of entertainment was in a community. That went to how people would consume it, what they feel about it and indeed what they would be willing to pay for it. And what the players' value was.
"I remember when he gave Magic (Johnson) a $25 million contract, we had owners who wanted to have him committed. And indeed he recognized what the value was going to be, and it seemed like a low price very shortly thereafter.
"So Jerry understood everything, and I wouldn't be fair if I didn't add that he is a league-first person, on every issue, as a member of the board of governors, that we have talked about, negotiated about, in every context, he's always put the league first. And often another position would have been better for the Lakers financially."

The assumption has been that the Orlando Magic team the Lakers will face in the NBA Finals is going to be quite different than the one that swept the Lakers in their two regular-season meetings because point guard Jameer Nelson won't be playing.
Not so fast.
Reports out of Orlando indicate that Nelson -- who would represent another in a series of quick, penetrating guards that have given the Lakers fits in the postseason -- is now practicing after missing the last 35 games of the regular season, and all of the playoff games to date, after tearing the labrum in his right shoulder in a Feb. 2 game with Dallas.
Nelson chewed the Lakers up in the regular-season games -- averaging 27.5 points, 6.5 assists and 5.0 rebounds -- so the team certainly knows how dangerous he can be.
"He's a terrific player," said Phil Jackson. "He's really come on a lot in the last year as a player.
"We just have to play it as someone's got to play that position, and we have to match whatever happens there. He has the speed and intelligence to play that position very well for this team."
Kobe Bryant said Nelson's return would "add another scorer.
"They have a team full of them, but he is another player you're going to have to deal with as a defense. He puts your defense in jeopardy. And that's something we're going to have to address."
Magic general manager Otis Smith and coach Stan Van Gundy have indicated they still consider it unlikely Nelson will play.
Someone to build around: Jackson was asked about having called Orlando center Dwight Howard the player he'd pick to build a franchise around.
"Well, that's what I said a couple months ago," he said, "because when you have a player that's 18, 19 years of age that has the physical capabilities he's shown, then you've got a player for 20 years that you're going to be in a position to win. And you always look for that power position to be filled, and you can fill in behind that much more readily than those other positions."
Having also said Howard was the most dominant player "power-wise" to enter the league since Shaquille O'Neal, does Jackson think his experience in coaching Shaq gives him any additional inside on how to deal with Howard?
"I doubt it," he said. "No one's seemed to be able to figure this out quite yet in the playoffs." Howard is averaging 21.7 points, 15.4 rebounds and 2.2 blocks in 18 playoff games.
"I think his teammates are probably the biggest criteria there," Jackson continued. "... They've played with him and won and played without him and won. The game he was suspended, they won against Philadelphia. So they're a perfectly capable team.
"But my experience with Shaq is: Use your fouls wisely and try to make him shoot the ball. Don't let him get to the front of the rim. That's the most basic thing there is."
Suggestion box: Inevitably, given the interest in the Lakers, Jackson gets a lot of unsolicited opinions on what he should be doing, via the internet and when he's out in public. How does he deal with that?
"I give them a big grin and thank them for their support," he said, drawing laughter.
"But, yeah, there's a ton of it. We've had radio jocks now for the last 20 years that have been weighing in with a lot of comments, and then there's the regular pundits that are writers and television commentators.
"But with the ability now to e-mail you and an organizational e-mail address, there's a ton of downloads you can get on things. Sun Yue might even have a shot at guarding somebody out there, the way it goes.
"But we have a lot of input."
Not that he dismisses all of it, he added: "I'm pretty open to suggestions."

After playing 13 games in 26 days, the Lakers were ready for some rest. But is this much -- six days between the clinching game of the Western Conference Finals and Thursday's Game 1 of the NBA Finals at Staples Center -- too much?
Phil Jackson doesn't think so.
"No, not for us," he said after Sunday's practice, which was really a film session for everyone and a four-on-four workout for the reserves. Most of the starters -- Kobe Bryant, Pau Gasol, Derek Fisher and Trevor Ariza --didn't get on the court. Neither did Lamar Odom, still dealing with an injured back.
"We really got banged up in these last two series," said Jackson, "and there are a number of guys who can really use the two days off. So we'll measure it out. We'll be ready."
Gasol, generally the forthright about his desire for some rest, displayed a bit less certitude about the break.
"Good or not," he said, "it is what it is. We've had situations where had days of rest, and then we were a little sluggish at the beginning of the series. Right now, we're in front of the NBA Finals, and there's no slacking or no slipping. We're ready to start, we're ready to play. We're going to get ourselves ready in these next days, and at the same time we're going to be able to recover from all the playing we've been doing in these last two series.
"We're excited. We're excited about what we're facing, who we're facing, and great things could come out of it."
Stating the obvious: A couple of the players were asked if there was any disappointment that they wouldn't get a chance to play Boston to avenge their title loss of a year ago.
"You already know what the answer to that is," said Derek Fisher. "It doesn't have who I played against on any of my rings. It just has 'World Champions.' That's it.
"I feel very good about the three I have, and if I can get a fourth one, I'll feel very good about that, as well."
Seconding that emotion was Luke Walton.
"We just want to win a championship," said Walton. "Obviously, you want to revenge yourself and beat Boston, but we haven't thought about it -- at least, I haven't thought about it at all. ... All that matters is that we win four before we lose four."
Gone, but not (quite) forgotten: Jackson was also asked how things changed with Vladimir Radmanovic -- still with the Lakers for both games with Orlando -- no longer on the squad.
"Well, we send him a telegram and say, hope you're having a good time on the beach," Jackson joked.
"Obviously, you know, Trevor (Ariza) has advanced as a player a lot. He's doing a really good job for us and it changes a little bit of what we do. We don't have as much of what you would consider a 3-point threat, but I think Trevor's really taken that spot well."
Brown suit: ESPN.com is reporting that guard Shannon Brown is being sued in civil court for what the website called a "sex-related incident" in Denver just prior to the trade sending Brown from Charlotte to the Lakers. Brown was served papers when the team was in Denver last week.
When asked Sunday about the suit, Brown had a very brief comment:"The truth is going to come out," he said. "I didn't do nothing. I'm innocent, and I'm just going to let it take its course."

Lamar Odom keeps saying he doesn't really want to talk about his back, that he doesn't want to make excuses for his play.
Even after a game that required no excuses -- a 19-point, 14-rebound effort as the Lakers won Game 5 of the Western Conference finals, 103-94 -- he still was reluctant to talk abut his back injury. But that doesn't mean we weren't asking.
"You know," he said, "everybody's a little banged up at this point of the year, this point of the season, and it's something you've just got to deal with. ...
"I'm trying to get better each and every day with treatment. A lot of ice."
But is it getting better?
"It's not going to get better until I stop playing, with the banging and the pounding," he said. "But like I said, everybody's either hurt, or with the change of weather, sick. It's just something I've got to get through."
Toward that end, he said he's doing more stretching when he's at home, and working out as much as possible "to keep everything else strong.
"Fortunately, I don't have any tendonitis or anything like that this year," he said. "I've been able to stay away from that. Other than my back, I feel pretty good."
Odom may not want to admit he's hurting, but Kobe Bryant knows.
"He's been playing through a lot, ever since the injury in Houston," Bryant said. "His back's messed up. He played extremely well yesterday, and hopefully this will get him in good rhythm to keep it going."
And, even with the injury, Bryant said he wasn't surprised what Odom was able to do in Game 5.
"He has the potential to do that," Bryant said. "It's just a matter of him getting used to what he's playing with, and then playing through it."
Odom was thinking in similar terms.
"I wasn't playing well," he said. "And I had to ask myself, am I pushing through it enough? Or am I holding back because I'm in pain? And before the game, I just said, no matter what, I'm going to push through it, whether the ball goes in, I miss shots, I make shots. And I was able to do that, and things are starting to fall my way."
Phil Jackson saw a difference, too, and hopes it carries into Game 6.
"He's been fighting through some things physically that I think have made him sit back, rather than be as aggressive as he can be," Jackson said. "So we hope that he stays aggressive in this game."
The Pau factor: Before Game 5, Phil Jackson discussed how big men can earn more touches by rebounding or running the floor or other forms of hard work.
Pau Gasol did all those things in Game 5, but still only had eight shots (making five). That, to Jackson, was a drawback to the Lakers' play, even though it was generally praised for the degree of teamwork and balance.
"I think that we know we're not functioning at 100 percent of what we can function at," said Jackson, " but everyone had a big impact in the game.
"For Pau Gasol to have as limited amount of shots as he had, 14 points, and play as well as he played, exceptionally well, just doesn't stand up to the standard of what we are as a team. He should have more touches, and more of this, and more of that.
"But it's however you have to win these games that counts. And everybody has to play the role and just doing the right thing. ... Guys know they have to sacrifice their roles and sacrifice part of their game at times."

The newest member of the media covering the Lakers-Nuggets series is one Kevin Love, working for NBA TV.
The former Bruin and current member of the Minnesota Timberwolves used his old-school ties to snag a pregame interview with Jordan Farmar, then stood around and talked with a number of reporters who'd covered him at UCLA.
"So this is now the way to start a career in journalism?" someone wondered. "When you don't really need the paycheck?"
Love smiled. "Yeah, and you only need one year of college."
Just fine: Phil Jackson, in his pregame session, was asked what he thought of the $25,000 fine the NBA assessed for his criticism of the officiating after Game 4.
"Not very well," he said. "I didn't think very good of it at all.
"I thought I was very conciliatory, tried to soft-pedal it. My comments -- I didn't go through the litany of things that we certainly have over this series. But that's the league. That's the league for you. They'll come back and hammer you."
You might wonder how much of a hammer a $25,000 fine is for someone making $11 million a year. (Proportionately, it's about the same as a fine of $227.27 for someone making $100,000 annually).
"I refuse to comment on that," Jackson said. "I think that the just thing to say is it doesn't matter. If it was a $10 fine, it would still bother me. "Parking tickets still bother me."
Does that mean Jackson gets parking tickets?
"No," he said. "My kids do, though. I refuse to pay them for them any more, though."
In a follow-up, Jackson was asked if the complaints were just a case of playing mind games.
"I hope so," he said. "God, I hope so. That would be really good, wouldn't it?"
Was he genuinely upset, then, or just planting a seed?
"I'm a gardener. I like that analogy." He paused.
"Constantly."
Upon further review: Jackson was also asked about the trend of flagrant and technical fouls being added or rescinded upon league review.
"A few years ago," he said, "when they came up with the flagrant fouls and then they kind of wanted to get into it, one of the lead officials ... said, that may not be a flagrant foul. It may be a flagrant foul. But hell, I'm going to call them all and let them sort it out back in the office.
"That I understood. The idea of not calling them and then being changed in the other hand, I didn't know. That's one of the things I just don't know.
"As I said yesterday, we might need some candidates for Supreme Court justices to be sitting in situations, because there's so many judgments going on."
Big vs. small: In light, perhaps, of Pau Gasol's request to get the ball more, Jackson was asked if big men can earn more touches, perhaps by rebounding or running the floor well.
"That's the way guards are supposed to play," said Jackson, who -- it should be recalled -- was a forward in his playing days. "If a big guy covers your butt on a drive, or he gets a rebound, or runs the court way, that's the way you learn how to play this game.
"Or else the big guys take the air out of the ball and tell the guards they can't dribble the ball any more. They have to pass it. That was what we used to threaten the guards with: 'We'll take all the air out of the ball.
Now what are you going to do?' "

Denver's Dahntay Jones picked up his second flagrant foul of the series, retroactively, when the NBA assessed a flagrant-1 for tripping Kobe Bryant in Game 4. (No foul was assessed at the time.)
This, among other incidents, had the Lakers answering questions about whether Denver had crossed a line between physical and dirty. Or not answering them, depending on the individual.
"I want to keep the topic on a positive note today," said coach Phil Jackson after Tuesday's practice. "I don't want to talk about that aspect of it. I want to talk about basketball."
Kobe Bryant had the same not-with-a-ten-foot-pool approach -- "It's just good playoff basketball," he said -- but not everyone was quite as circumspect.
"I wouldn't say the Nuggets," said Lamar Odom. "I wouldn't define a team on the actions of how one person is playing, or two people.
"But it's playoffs, so you've got to expect anything. ... But we'll take care of it on the court. There's no reason for us talk about it, or retaliate with words."
Pau Gasol went a little further.
"They get away with a few things," he said, "and at home they get away with more stuff. I think the league is pretty aware of it at this point in time, and they should be able to cut it off. So hopefully they will. ...
"Nobody got hurt, but they could've, and that's something that the referees should be able to protect us from, because we're not trying to hurt anybody. We're just trying to play hard and compete. But there's some plays out there that reflect some dirtiness."
Tired? Tonight's game will be the Lakers' 12th in 24 days. Mix in travel and practices, and you might say they have reason to feel a little fatigued.
You might. They won't.
"It's possible," said Jackson. "But we're really trying to take care of our players in the process between (games). Guys are doing anything from ice baths to massage. We're not asking players that play over 35 minutes, 30 minutes really, to do anything physical (at practice). So there's a recovery period, and they have to take care of themselves in that period, and we hope they're doing that off-site here.
"But we think they can respond to this. We're not going to use that as an excuse."
Gasol wasn't having any of it, either.
"It's all about mind strength right now," he said. "Forget about the fatigue and forget about the body. You've got to be strong enough mentally to be able to fight through everything and know what you're playing for. We're two wins away from being in the finals again. We have home-court advantage and we should take advantage of it."
Waiting for Bynum: Andrew Bynum's ongoing push for playing time -- which keeps running into Jackson's desire for his young center to play better defense -- may have taken a turn in the right direction at end of Game 4, Jackson said.
Indicating that he'd like Bynum to take some of the minutes that normally go to Lamar Odom, struggling with a back injury, Jackson said he liked what he saw in Denver on Monday.
"I thought he responded well in the fourth quarter, Drew did," said Jackson, "and helped get the game back under double-digit points. We lost it, but he stepped in there and tried to fill his job and do his job."
Jackson was asked if he had any sense why Bynum responded at that particular time.
"Well, I think he was upset about coming out of the game in the third quarter," Jackson said. "There were a couple of actions there when I didn't see him go to the ball defensively, and I thought, 'We can't wait around in this quarter after we got the lead down to three.'
"And so when he went back in, I liked his response. That's the way he has to play."

Any time a Lakers game comes down to the final shot, and Kobe Bryant doesn't take that shot, the play is going to the topic of some discussion.
So, naturally, there was a great deal of talk about Derek Fisher's unsuccessful 3-pointer from the corner at the end of Denver's 106-103 win over the Lakers in Game 2 of the Western Conference Finals.
"I thought they'd foul Kobe," said Lakers coach Phil Jackson. "They were just naturally going to foul him. I thought Fisher would be open for the shot. We'd have a 3-point opportunity as opposed to having to foul and going to the free-throw line and manufacture 3-points."
It looked for a moment that, off the inbounds play with 4.3 seconds left, that Fisher would have a wide-open look. But Denver center Nene jumped out and pressured Fisher as he shot.
"I had a pretty good look at it," Fisher said. "I figured they were going to try to foul to prevent us from shooting a 3. I think I got rid of it a little quicker than I probably had to.
"Definitely, you don't want to put yourself in a position where you need that kind of shot to try and tie the game."
Nuggets coach George Karl did, indeed, want his team to foul before the Lakers could get off a 3-pointer.
"I thought Nene got caught a little bit," said Nuggets coach George Karl, "but he got out onto Fisher, trying to deny Kobe a touch. ... You can cover Kobe and he can still shoot. And if we had a chance to foul, we were going to foul. But I don't think Fisher gave us that chance."
And how did Bryant feel about being a decoy, rather than the shooter?
"I always want the ball," said Bryant. "I want the ball every play, you know what I mean? That doesn't change down the stretch, for sure.
"But Fisher has also made big shots. So he had a good look. Nene made a great play, jumped in there, got a piece of the ball. But we've seen Derek knock those shows down how many times? So I can live with that."
The non-call they'll recall: The Lakers might have avoided that situation if things had gone a little better on a jump ball with 18.6 seconds left. Pau Gasol won the tip to Trevor Ariza, but Ariza lost it to J.R. Smith as he fell to the court -- with some help, in Jackson's eyes.
"Looked to me like (Carmelo) Anthony pushed on Trevor and Trevor tried to get rid of the ball, and no foul was called and they recovered the basketball," said Jackson. "Trevor tried to get rid of it because he was afraid he was going to be called" for traveling as he fell.
Said Gasol, "Unfortunately those little plays, in a game so close, make a big difference. If it goes the other way, maybe now we could be in a different state of mind. It went the other way. What are you going to do?"
Out of nowhere: Funny how guys go from zero to hero from one game to the next in a playoff series.
Case in point: Linas Kleiza.
The Nuggets' swing man barely played seven minutes in Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals. His line score was all zeros, save for a foul and a steal.
Thursday, in Game 10, Kleiza played 21:41 and had 16 points and eight rebounds (all in the first half), giving Denver a significant lift from the bench.
"In Game 1, we kept their bench points down," noted Kobe Bryant. "He came in for them and gave them a big boost."
Said Nuggets coach George Karl, "Not only did he make some shots, but he got us eight rebounds in the first half and it seemed like after we got in control of rebounding, we had a lot more confidence in winning the game."
Chauncey Billups said Kleiza "was huge for us in the part of the game that they were kind of running away. They kind of had it their way, and L.K. stepped in after ... not playing very much at all in the last game and even in the last series, eh stepped in and hit some big, big shots for us. Not only that, got some huge rebounds for us."
Kleiza was 4 for 7 on 3-pointers, 4 for 8 overall.
"He made 3s to space the court better," said Karl. "... I don't think we win the game without L.K.'s wild cards. ... He gave us two wild cards. He gave us a scoring wild card and he gave us a rebounding wild card."

A few other postgame comments:
Gasol, who was 5 of 8 from the field, finishing with 17 points and 17 rebounds, on whether he needs to demand the ball more:
"I'm playing hard, as hard as I can. I'm trying to give my best effort out there. When I get the ball, I try to make good decisions and try to be aggressive. We're going to continue to be aggressive and I'm going to continue to do my job as much as I can and hopefully get a few more touches."

Lamar Odom, on the Nuggets' second-quarter run:
"The second quarter I don't' think we did a good enough job of moving the ball. It keeps your defensive energy up when you move the ball and everyone touches it, everyone gets good looks, get the big men involved. We didn't do a good job of executing and that allowed them to get back in the game, and then it was just who's making more plays."

Carmelo Anthony, on a 34-point effort -- against significantly better defensive work -- on the heels of his 39-point night in Game 1:
"You're in the mode, you're in the zone. Making shots. I tell everybody, man, scoring is something that I always can do. That's what got me to where I am right now.
"My main focus is not to score 34 or 39 points. That's not my focus."

Anthony on guarding Bryant (10 for 20, 32 points), who had guarded him successfully in Game 1:
"I challenged myself to guard the best guys, whoever I'm playing against. A guy like Kobe, man, is a tough match for anybody. He's a great player. He's a great scorer. Can put the ball in the basket at any given time. ...
"I'm telling myself just make it tough for him. I always keep a hand in his face, try to body. I know I'm bigger than him. ... If he makes a tough shot with my hand in his face, I can live with that."

Phil Jackson actually stuck around for his Game 2 pregame media session -- and there were actually questions -- so there are a few highlights to pass along.
-- Jackson was asked about the Nuggets' effectiveness in defending the Lakers' inside game in Game 1, and whether he thought it could continue.
"I think, honestly, we're going to be pressed to get the ball in at times against this team because of the size," he said.
"If I'm not mistaken, we had like 14 post passes in the first quarter. We had a lot of post passes, but about nine of them were to Kobe. We still got post passes, but they weren't to a normal source of Pau or to Drew. They really stepped in front, high-sided, and we didn't handle that well. We can do a better job, but they're going to have that physical strength there that they can overpower some of our center."
-- He also was optimistic about Lamar Odom's improvement from the back bruise Odom sustained against Houston.
"I'm much more confident he's going to be all right," he said. "He was moving much better today and starts to look like he's natural again and not stilted by his injury. ... I thought, just watching the replay of that layup he had down the stretch that didn't go in for him, that he had to bring both his legs together. He just didn't seem to have any lift on that shot."
-- Jackson was also asked whether he was concerned about fatigue with the Lakers playing every other day, coming off a seven-game series.
"Well, we have 48 hours between," said Jackson, "and we're not putting them through much of a practice in between on days off. So that's OK. I mean, it's not great.
"But I think it depends a lot about winning and losing. I think if you lose a ball game or you're disturbed psychologically, or your psyche is, so it makes sleep much more difficult, or rest.
"I think we're going to be OK in this game. Travel-wise, over the weekend, I think this is as good of a travel situation as we can have with a short trip and a one-hour time-zone difference, to get ourselves prepared on this trip to be ready to play."
-- Not surprisingly, Carmelo Anthony was also a topic of much discussion. Jackson was asked if he'd stay with Trevor Ariza as the primary defender against Anthony.
"Well, we'll use both our small forwards -- Trevor and Luke -- on Anthony," Jackson said. "It's going to take even more than that because there are a lot of screens for Anthony out there. We can switch Lamar off to him, and there's certain situations where we're going to have to.

Trevor has shown the ability to play ... physical forwards, give up 20 or 30 pounds and still survive, as was shown in that Houston series against (Ron) Artest. One he got a feel of how to play him, I thought he responded quite well. We hope he responds better in this game tonight."
He was also asked what the big difference was between Anthony in last year's playoffs and this year's.
"You know, if you look at his stats for the season, he was a .445 shooter from the field," Jackson said. "In the playoffs, he's shooting 52 percent. He's just lifted the level of his game.
"We played him very similar to what we tried to do in the playoffs last year, where we felt like we could contain him. On Tuesday, he felt like he was a hot iron. We just couldn't contain him at all. He just went, did what he wanted to, basically, with such a hot hand from the outside that it made everybody wary, and as he started to drive, you get people in foul trouble.
"So we have to find that level between where to play him, crowd him, make him half to take shots that are out of his range, get to him earlier in the sequence of an offense play, and play him with some kind of physical presence."
-- In the silly-season department, Jackson was asked (and it shouldn't be too hard to figure out which L.A. columnist was asking) a couple of questions about his appearance in the online videos by significant other/Lakers executive Jeanie Buss, shot as the couple drives to the game.
The best one closed this particular line of questioning:
Q: "Is it a good idea to be looking into a camera Jeanie's holding as you're driving down the road?"
A: "Yes. She's sitting on my lap, actually, while I'm driving."

And now, direct from Staples Center, the entire transcript of Phil Jackson's media session prior to Game 1 of the Lakers-Nuggets series. Questions are paraphrased; answers are exact:

Q: Are you the underdog?
A: I have no idea about that. That will be determined by the first game. Then we'll know what goes on.

Q: Why are so many people on board with Denver?
A: They've played exceptionally well the first two rounds. They've looked really good.

There was, as is sometimes a case, a pause when no one had a question. So Jackson got up and left.
Which, a few minutes led to this start to the session with Nuggets coach George Karl:

Q: Are you going to have more to say than Phil?
A: Probably.
Moderator (Staples PR guy Michael Roth): You now officially have. Next question.

Karl was, indeed, more expansive than Jackson, though not necessarily more enthusiastic, particularly when asked about the difference between this team and the one drubbed by the Lakers in last year's playoffs -- a question more loaded than it sounds, given Denver's abysmal history against the Lakers.
"I know it's a new series," Karl said, "but I'm really tired of this story. "We're a totally different team. The psychological and conceptual culture change over the summer, basically knowing the way we played for two years could not win, or I could not coach any more it that way. The coaching staff committing to a kind of hands-on approach to all the players, that defense is going to be the end of the course that we respect and work hardest at.
"The Chauncey (Billups) trade was huge, because everything we're kind of preaching and teaching and coaching, he was an is a poster boy for -- play the right way, play defense first, play as a team. And I'm not the only coach in the NBA trying to build that culture, either. There's probably about 29 guys probably doing the same thing. But we were doing it from a different way, and from a personal standpoint, I think my passion came back because I got back to what I feel more confidence about."
Some historical background: The Lakers were 3-1 against the Nuggets in the regular season, are 13-2 against them all-time in the postseason, are 51-17 all time against them at home in the regular season (and 40-28 in Denver). And as noted by Denver columnist Woody Paige, the Nuggets are 9-41 all time at Staples Center, including games against the Clippers.
Karl was also asked if he'd been surprised how vulnerable the Lakers had looked at times against Houston. His answer was indirect but informative.
"About five minutes into Game 7," he recalled, "I said, 'They're woked up. We're not going to get that game. We're not going to be given that opportunity.
"They played by far their best defensive game in Game 7. Their activity, their aggressiveness was first class. And they did what they had to do.
Sometimes teams wake up, some times team group up in certain series where the end could go the other way.
"I think you're going to see two very disciplined and focused teams tonight, and I think it's going to stay that way the whole series."

One of the interesting subtexts for the remainder of the Lakers' season -- however long that is -- is going to be the reunion of Kobe Bryant with some of his U.S. Olympic basketball teammates.
The potential opponents in the finals are Cleveland, with LeBron James -- and much has already been said this season about James learning from his time with Bryant -- or Orlando with Dwight Howard.
First, though, the Lakers have to get past the Nuggets and their standout Olympian, Carmelo Anthony, who averaged 11.5 points and 4.3 rebounds in Beijing, and forged a strong relationship with Bryant in the process.
"He was like a brother to me," Bryant said Monday. "I mean, truly. I love him.
"We spent a lot of time together this summer. He's the one I was closest with on the team. ...
"He works really hard. I think that's one thing that I love about him, is that he continues to play all the time. He's not going to settle or accept the fact that you double team him, you deny him the ball, the shot goes up -- he's going to crash the offensive glass. He's going to continue to work. And in the summer, we saw that at both ends of the floor. And now with the Nuggets, you're starting to see that, too, which makes him even more dangerous."
Anthony averaged 22.8 points and 6.8 rebounds in the regular season, and is at 27 points and 6.4 rebounds in the postseason. Bryant was asked if he'd learned anything during national-team duty that might help against Anthony.
"A little bit," he said, "but he also stole a lot of my moves."
Anthony averaged a relatively modest (for him) 14.5 points and 4.0 rebounds against the Lakers, but Phil Jackson downplayed that.
"I think some of that's happenchance," he said, meaning of course happenstance. "He maybe didn't shoot the ball well and didn't get in a rhythm. And some of it's our defense; got to give some credit to it
"But the way he's playing now, he's playing exceptionally well. He's a streaky player. We just can't let him sit on shots when he gets hot."
Inside information? Jackson was also asked about a comment by Denver coach George Karl, who said he'd been able to get some Lakers secrets from his son, Coby, who spent last year with the Lakers, appearing in 17 games.
"Oh, you know, I think Coby's been away from us almost a year now, playing over in Spain," said Jackson. "He's a heady ballplayer. I'm sure he can give his father a lot of things.
"But the reality is that George and I have probably coached against each other a hundred times by now. Maybe not that many; maybe 70 times in our career. So there's a lot of things we can go back to and look and know about.
"He's full aware of what we do. He's one of the good coaches, one of the great coaches in this league."
The professionals: In answering a question about whether he's challenging to play for, Jackson mentioned that he feels a "responsibility, because we have so many young players at this level, to see them not only become good players but also professionals, that they know how to handle themselves as professionals."
Which all but begged for a follow-up question: In light of the erratic play against Houston, how would he assess his players' ability to be professional?
"We're still talking to them about that," he said.
"There's a lot of talk about how to be professional, about how to get the things done that have to get done in a professional way. And we have young players that are still very emotional about their game. Some of them are looking for contracts, and these are all things that have to be put aside at this time. And that's where, you know, the professional aspect comes in and takes that emotional part away, so they understand it's not just a job, but a special job, and it's a unique thing that they're doing."
He had, he said, had to deal with these kinds of issues before at playoff time, and the results hadn't always been satisfactory.
"We lost Horace Grant once after a year that was challenging like this," he said. "That was one of the issues that always remains with me, that he went on into free agency."