February 14th: Lakers hang to beat Utah and hold the 8th spot. Jackson, "no trade needed to make the playoffs."

 
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Phil
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PostPosted: Tue Feb 14, 2006 6:18 am    Post subject: February 14th: Lakers hang to beat Utah and hold the 8th spot. Jackson, "no trade needed to make the playoffs."

Lakers Eighth, Not So Great
# They manage to beat the slow-starting Jazz, 94-88, ending a 2-6 slide, and hang on to last playoff spot in West one game before All-Star break.

By Mike Bresnahan, Times Staff Writer

The race for eighth place, if it can be called that in mid-February, is still being won by the Lakers, thanks to a compliant Utah Jazz team that sat out the first half, the Lakers more than happy to take advantage.

A game separates the Lakers from the All-Star break, and a game and a half now separates them from the Jazz after a 94-88 victory Monday at Staples Center ended a 2-6 skid.


There were chances to fall to ninth in the Western Conference as a 26-point lead almost evaporated, but the panic button remained safely encased in glass, to be used for another day, if at all.

Laker Coach Phil Jackson refused to call it an important game, saying it was one of many more "before the final bell rings," but he was relatively pleased with a decent enough effort after so few of them in the last two weeks.

"We still have to drive ourselves and drive the team forward," he said. "I don't think we finished the game well, but a win is good for us at this particular time because it builds some confidence."


Last edited by Phil on Tue Feb 28, 2006 6:03 am; edited 2 times in total
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PostPosted: Tue Feb 14, 2006 6:22 am    Post subject:

Lakers get some separation
Win provides boost to playoff aspirations
Ross Siler, Staff writer

For as much as the Lakers would downplay any mid-February game as crucial to their playoff hopes, Kobe Bryant said he knew exactly what was at stake when he arrived Monday night at Staples Center.

"We realize it's a big game, especially in this city," Bryant said. "The moment you slip, everybody is waiting."

And Bryant wasn't about to let the city wake up to find the Lakers out of eighth place in the Western Conference standings.

With Bryant setting the tone on defense early - his six steals in the first half tied a franchise record - the Lakers jumped out to a 26-point lead before holding on for a 94-88 victory over the Utah Jazz.

The Lakers (26-25) came into the game leading the Jazz by just a half-game for the eighth and final playoff spot in the West. Even with more than two months left in the regular season, the Lakers had to have a victory Monday.

They were coming off a collapse in the final minute of Saturday's loss to Memphis. They also dropped two games last month to Utah while Bryant served a suspension for an elbow delivered to the chin of Memphis guard Mike Miller.

Not that a split of the season series with the Jazz was anything that would have Lakers coach Phil Jackson doing cartwheels.

"Our particular team right now is not a team that does well resting on any kind of sense that we've done anything or accomplished anything," Jackson said.
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PostPosted: Tue Feb 14, 2006 6:24 am    Post subject:

Lakers show playoff intensity

Lakers 94, Jazz 88: They lead Utah, close on their heels for a playoff spot, by as many as 26.

01:43 AM PST on Tuesday, February 14, 2006

By BRODERICK TURNER / The Press-Enterprise

LOS ANGELES - The Lakers could feel the Utah Jazz breathing down their necks, already clamoring for the eighth and final Western Conference playoff spot, for a victory that the Lakers appeared to have wrapped up.

To back the Jazz off, the Lakers had to protect a lead that had been as high as 26 points and hold on for a 94-88 victory Monday night before 18,629 at Staples Center.

It took five Lakers scoring in double figures for them to open a 1½-game lead over the Jazz.

Kobe Bryant led the Lakers with 23 points and a career-high seven steals in a game that wasn't secure until Sasha Vujacic made two free throws in the final 34.3 seconds, and it took him four tries.

This was starting to shape up like so many games the Lakers have blown, like Saturday's loss to Memphis, when they blew a four-point lead in the final 1:06.

But despite the Lakers missing 5 of 10 free throws in the final 1:22 Monday night, with one game left before All-Star weekend, the Lakers are guaranteed to be in the playoff picture going into the break, with 31 games left afterward.

"We realized this was a big game, especially in this city," said Bryant, who missed 14 of 20 shots from the field. "The moment you slip, everybody is waiting."
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PostPosted: Tue Feb 14, 2006 6:26 am    Post subject:

Notebook: No trade needed for playoffs

Broderick Turner

01:42 AM PST on Tuesday, February 14, 2006

LOS ANGELES - There will be rumors and speculation about the Lakers making trades, but Coach Phil Jackson said he's not seeking a trade.

The trading deadline is Feb. 23, and the Lakers probably could use some veteran help in the backcourt.

"I'm just trying to see if we can't improve this team however we will, or can," Jackson said before Monday night's game. "And if there are opportunities ... I'll OK it (a trade) or turn it down if I don't like it."

When asked if the Lakers need to make a deal to ensure they make the playoffs, Jackson said no. Asked if they could make the playoffs with the team they have, Jackson replied, "Without a doubt."

Jekyll and Hyde Brown

On Saturday night, Kwame Brown played one of his best offensive games of the season, scoring 18 points and grabbing eight rebounds.

Brown made all six of his field goals and all six free throws.

Monday, Brown was awful.

He was 0 for 5 from the field and was held scoreless for the third time. He had eight rebounds but also had two turnovers and was twice called for three-second violations.

Brown let passes slip through his hands and was booed.

Jackson was asked if he was surprised that Brown's game could be so drastically different from one night to another.

"No, I wasn't surprised," Jackson said, raising his voice as he talked. "I wish I would have been surprised. I wish I could count on Kwame for more consistency.
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PostPosted: Tue Feb 14, 2006 6:28 am    Post subject:

Bryant Gets More Play Time
By Mike Bresnahan, Times Staff Writer

A more pressing number than 81, or even 100, for Kobe Bryant: 44.3.

The Laker guard had averaged that many minutes in a three-game stretch before the Utah Jazz came to town, ending a breakneck pace that had meant less time on the bench for Bryant and a trend toward the full 48.

"I'd play 48 minutes every game," Bryant said before logging 36 in the Lakers' 94-88 victory over the Jazz. "It might not be the healthiest thing. If I had my choice, I'd play 48 minutes."

Bryant, in his 10th year, has played all 82 games in a season only once (2002-03), but the Lakers have had little choice but to use him, and use him, and use him.

He had 12 minutes of rest Monday against Utah, but only two against Memphis, three against Houston and a whopping six against Dallas.

"Last couple of games, I noticed it getting shorter and shorter," Bryant said. "It's fine by me."

He won't get much rest this weekend. While 95% of the league will be off on Sunday, Bryant will be playing in his eighth consecutive All-Star game. The day before that, he will be in a three-on-three team shootout and attending various functions in Houston as part of All-Star Saturday.

The other 14 Lakers will be off Thursday through Sunday.

"If you're tired, suck it up," he said. "We've watched all the great guys doing it when we were growing up. It's the least we can do for the game."
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PostPosted: Tue Feb 14, 2006 6:30 am    Post subject:

Lakers make dashing figure
Their early defensive effort sets a winning tune against the Jazz.

By KEVIN DING
The Orange County Register

LOS ANGELES – Kobe Bryant stood somewhat sidesaddle in the line of Lakers along the baseline after practice Sunday while Coach Phil Jackson gave a rare long lecture before sprints.

It might have appeared as if Bryant wasn't giving his full attention, but he showed Monday night against the Utah Jazz that he certainly was.

Bryant hit the floor running to answer Jackson's directive for assertive, active play. He did it mostly on defense, where the vigor was more conspicuous than in his usual offensive domination, and the Lakers rode that energy for a rocket-like start en route to a 94-88 victory at Staples Center.

Despite a sluggish finish, the result bumped the Lakers 11/2 games ahead of Utah, solidifying their hold on the last available playoff spot in the Western Conference through the All-Star break.

This has been a season in which - no matter their touch-and-go past - Bryant and Jackson have often been giving the same messages, at times even offering the exact same words to players and reporters alike.

"Shoot, the guy schooled me," Bryant said earlier this season when told he was starting to sound like Jackson. "What do you expect?"
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PostPosted: Tue Feb 14, 2006 6:32 am    Post subject:

The experience is wearing thin
By Ross Siler, Staff Writer

During his first season as coach of the Chicago Bulls, Phil Jackson had three rookies on the roster in Stacey King, B.J. Armstrong and Jeff Sanders, each of them a first-round draft pick of general manager Jerry Krause.

But Jackson said he couldn't remember ever dressing four rookies for a game, as he has with Andrew Bynum, Von Wafer, Devin Green and Ronny Turiaf the Lakers' past three games.

"You have to sometimes play inexperienced players in need situations," Jackson said. "If we're playing Devean George as a guard, playing Luke Walton as a guard, that's OK. Our offense can stand that and work with that. But defensively, it does hurt us a little bit at times."

The inactive list once again is full of injured Lakers. Forward Slava Medvedenko is out for the season after undergoing back surgery, guard Aaron McKie is still sidelined by a torn left quadriceps tendon and center Chris Mihm is out with a sprained shoulder.

That has left Jackson with fewer options off the bench than he might prefer, and Kobe Bryant's minutes have been ticking upward as a result. Bryant played 45 minutes, 15 seconds at Houston and 45:33 against Memphis.

"It's just whatever it takes to try to help us win the game," Bryant said.
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PostPosted: Tue Feb 14, 2006 6:33 am    Post subject:

T.J. Simers:
Playoff Fever at Staples? Don't Bet Your Soul Patch

I'm not sure it'll get any more exciting than this for Laker fans, playoff basketball Monday at Staples Center, Utah and Los Angeles going head to head for that all-important eighth spot. Goose bumps!

It's 5:30, two hours before game time, and Craig Hodges, the old Craig Hodges who used to play for the Chicago Bulls, is warming up. I'd feel a lot better if it were one of the Lakers who is going to play in tonight's game. This might be Devean George's only chance to make a basket.

It's 5:45, and Hodges has been joined by Kurt Rambis, and they are really working hard, and if they have an old-timers' game, look out.

It's 6:10, and Kobe Bryant is talking in front of his locker, and I'm sure he hates that, hates the way members of the media surround him, hates the questions, hates it that he's hungry, a veteran, a champion, and hates it that he has to stand there because no one wants to talk to anyone else. Really hates the fact too, that no one in this group will probably buy his new shoes.

It's 6:20, and Phil Jackson takes a seat behind the podium, a king on his throne overlooking the little people, and right away I want to know if His Lordship is excited about tonight's playoff game.

He turns away, saying, "Anybody else have a question they'd like to ask?"
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PostPosted: Tue Feb 14, 2006 6:36 am    Post subject:

All fun and games for Cuban

By KEVIN DING
The Orange County Register


Lakers coach Phil Jackson and Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban went at it again last week, engaging in the latest public round of their private game of "You're pretty successful, but I'm more successful!"

After losing in Cuban's arena, Jackson used reporters to state that Cuban's pressure and scrutiny were scaring referees there, an argument that will be revisited come spring - how convenient for Jackson - if the Lakers start the playoffs there.

Cuban responded on his Web log (www.blogmaverick.com) that "I own Phil Jackson" and marveled at Jackson's continual interest in what Cuban does. Cuban didn't even hear a few other jabs Jackson delivered more quietly while in Dallas - noting the Mavericks' best-in-the-West record at the time was boosted by "scheduling" and that opponents' recent inability to score 100 points on the Mavericks had more to do with tempo control than Dallas' defense being truly improved.
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PostPosted: Tue Feb 14, 2006 6:38 am    Post subject:

Laker Legend Returns to School for L.A. District's Outreach Program
# Magic Johnson is visiting campuses as part of the Diploma Project, which aims to prevent students from dropping out.

By Tanya Caldwell, Times Staff Writer

Magic Johnson stopped by the Crenshaw High School basketball court Monday night to tell the teens there that ditching school is not a game.

"No more excuses," Johnson told the students. "We just got to get on top of it."

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The NBA superstar-turned-businessman addressed ninth- and 10th-grade students and parents as part of the Los Angeles Unified School District's Diploma Project, which is focused on preventing students from dropping out and intervening when they do.

Crenshaw, which only recently regained its accreditation, was the first in a series of schools Johnson plans to visit as part of the program.

"I know what you're going through. I'm from the 'hood too," he told the students. "But I had dreams that I wanted to do bigger and better things."

Parents said they hoped students were listening to what the Lakers legend had to say.

"It may make them think twice," said Kim Crosby, whose college-bound son Alton attends Crenshaw. "But once they're gone, they're gone."
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PostPosted: Tue Feb 14, 2006 10:32 pm    Post subject:

Odom's Review Mixed
By Mike Bresnahan, Times Staff Writer

Note to unhappy Laker followers: They're unhappy too.

One by one, the veterans have met with Laker Coach Phil Jackson for sessions lasting from 30 to 45 minutes, exchanging ideas, visions and frustrations.


A common thread in every meeting was the underachieving ways of a 26-25 team. "All of them that I've met with have said that," Jackson said Wednesday.

The Lakers lost seven games in which they were leading or tied in the final minute of the fourth quarter, a template of a team that can't win close ones and subsequently can't be counted on for a playoff appearance.
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PostPosted: Tue Feb 14, 2006 10:36 pm    Post subject:


Lakers stomp the Jazz

Key loss? Utah loses game that could be key in hunt for playoffs
By Phil Miller
The Salt Lake Tribune

LOS ANGELES - If the race for the final playoff spot remains every-rebound-can-change-it tight, the Jazz would hate to look back on this trip to Staples Center as decisive, Jerry Sloan said Monday.
And he's right: If the NBA looks back on Utah's 94-88 loss to the Lakers as having playoff implications, the league might reasonably conclude that there are simply too many playoff teams.
The Lakers and Jazz conducted an ugly-off with the All-Star break looming, and Los Angeles kept its grip on the final Western Conference playoff spot by appearing only slightly less desperate for a week away from basketball.
In other words: Kobe Bryant may have had an off night, but the Jazz took a night off.
"Our guys already had their bags packed to go home," Sloan said of his team, which entered the game only one loss behind the slumping Lakers. ". . . Sometimes they get a little intimidated by circumstances. Hopefully, we can learn to play in games that are important."
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PostPosted: Tue Feb 14, 2006 10:38 pm    Post subject:

Slow start dooms Jazz

Utah drops pivotal game to Lakers in Los Angeles
By Tim Buckley
Deseret Morning News
LOS ANGELES — The calendar indeed says February. The NBA All-Star Game is in pre-pomp and circumstance stage. The East continues to shovel out from winter's first big blizzard there.
Image
Danny Moloshok, Associated Press
Utah's Milt Palacio, left, drives to the basket past L.A.'s Lamar Odom.
Yet the Jazz had what coach Jerry Sloan dubbed a huge game Monday night, another in what he considers a recent string of several.
"Every game we've played in the last couple weeks," Sloan said, "has been very important."
The specific significance of this one?
Eighth place in the NBA's Western Conference — the conference final playoff position when push comes to shove a couple months from now — merely was at stake when Utah visited Kobe Bryant and the Los Angeles Lakers.
Even in mid-February, that's a big a deal to Sloan. So how did the Jazz respond?
Based on their start in a 94-88 loss to the 26-25 Lakers, it was as if getting a jump on this week's All-Star Game break — the 25-27 Jazz don't play again until next Tuesday vs. Boston, two nights after the league's showcase game in Houston — was more important than notching a victory they might really need come April.
Utah went into halftime down 50-32. No one mustered double-figure scoring after 24 minutes. And the Jazz were hitting a paltry 24.2 percent (8-of-33) from the field after two quarters, including 1-for-7 shooting from Andrei Kirilenko, who wound up just 2-of-12.
Guard Devin Brown did get hot with 11 points in the third quarter alone, and Utah did trim L.A.'s advantage to single digits in the last minute of the final quarter.
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PostPosted: Tue Feb 14, 2006 10:48 pm    Post subject:

Sweet revenge for Lakers

LOS ANGELES -- After being swept by the Utah Jazz in a home-and-home set last month, the Los Angeles Lakers are determined to win one at home.

Bryant scored 23 points and a career-high six steals -- all in the first half -- as the Lakers cruised to a 94-88 victory over the Jazz in the National Basketball Association (NBA) on Monday night.

"We needed this win, and that is what we were able to do," said Bryant, whose league-leading scoring average has dropped from 35.2 to 34.9 after averaging a high 43.4 points in January which included a franchise-record 81-point effort against the Toronto Raptors.

"I really don't care about the scoring title. I could care less. I don't care about shooting the ball or anything. I mean, if I need to score 35 or 40 points, or whatever it is, I do it to win the game. If I don't need to, then I don't," added Bryant, who played only 35 minutes.

Lamar Odom added 17 points, nine rebounds and eight assists and Smush Parker had 16 points for the Lakers, who lead the Jazz by 1 1-2 games for the eighth and final Western Conference playoff spot.
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PostPosted: Tue Feb 14, 2006 10:51 pm    Post subject:

For what it's worth

DEALING WITH PENNY

By MARC BERMAN February 14, 2006 -- KNICK NOTES DALLAS — Isiah Thomas' intention is to trade Penny Hardaway's expiring contract by the Feb. 23 deadline, but the Knicks president may wait until that day before pulling the trigger, believing offers will get stronger.

The Post reported Sunday he was discussing a deal for Hardaway with four teams — Seattle, Denver, Orlando, Portland — trying to create more room under the salary cap. A league executive who has spoken to Thomas said yesterday that a fifth team is slowly emerging and could be the Timberwolves or Lakers.
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