LAKERS NOTEBOOK: JACKSON IS UPSET OVER LOSS.Byline: ROSS SILER Staff Writer EL SEGUNDO El Segundo (ĕl sēgŭn`dō), industrial city (1990 pop. 15,223), Los Angeles co., S Calif., on Santa Monica Bay; inc. 1917. Its products include navigation and computer systems, aircraft parts, office machines, telephone apparatus, and -- So many times this season, the Lakers have turned to youth and inexperience as excuses when they have lost games to teams whose only destiny is a spot in the NBA draft lottery The NBA Draft Lottery is an annual event held by the National Basketball Association (NBA) to determine the order of the NBA Draft for that year. The teams that did not make the playoffs compete in a weighted lottery, in which teams with least amount of wins have a greater chance . That was before Saturday's practice, when Lakers coach Phil Jackson
Philip Douglas "Phil" Jackson (born September 17, 1945 in Deer Lodge, Montana) is the current coach of the Los Angeles Lakers, an American professional basketball team. was in no mood to sugarcoat sug·ar·coat tr.v. sug·ar·coat·ed, sug·ar·coat·ing, sug·ar·coats 1. To cause to seem more appealing or pleasant: a sentimental treatment that sugercoats a harsh reality. 2. his team's second loss of the season to the Charlotte Bobcats The Charlotte Bobcats are a professional basketball team based in Charlotte, North Carolina. They play in the Southeast Division of the Eastern Conference in the National Basketball Association. . ``I hope they're doing bad,'' Jackson said. ``They should be because we're really disappointed. It was another overtime game, but the fact that we got beat that badly in overtime (15-6) when it's our court, that was disappointing.'' Jackson harped on the 15 turnovers that Kobe Bryant Kobe Bean Bryant (born July 23 1978) is an American All-Star shooting guard in the National Basketball Association (NBA) who plays for the Los Angeles Lakers. and Lamar Odom Lamar Joseph Odom (born November 6 1979, in South Jamaica, Queens, New York) is an American professional basketball player who currently plays power forward (also plays both forward spots and is a "point-forward") for the National Basketball Association's Los Angeles Lakers. combined for in Friday's loss. The coach also showed his players tape of the Bobcats' 11-1 run late in the third quarter, which erased what had been a seven-point Lakers lead. ``That's really the point,'' Jackson said, ``where an experienced team knows how they're going to take care of business and does the right thing.'' The Lakers have now lost twogames each to Charlotte and New Orleans New Orleans (ôr`lēənz –lənz, ôrlēnz`), city (2006 pop. 187,525), coextensive with Orleans parish, SE La., between the Mississippi River and Lake Pontchartrain, 107 mi (172 km) by water from the river mouth; founded , as well as games to Memphis, Portland, Seattle and Milwaukee. As for a silver lining silver lining n. A hopeful or comforting prospect in the midst of difficulty. [From the proverb "Every cloud has a silver lining". , at least the Lakers don't have to worry about an NBA Finals pairing with the Bobcats. ``The positive is that we don't play none of those teams in the playoffs,'' Bryant said. ``That's a good thing. All the teams that we tend to play well against are future playoff opponents. ``That's somewhat encouraging. We'd like to be getting better in those games instead of losing those games. The more experience we gain, the more we'll realize the importance.'' There's also the small matter of a nationally televised game today against San Antonio at Staples Center. The Lakers could sweep the abbreviated three-game season series for the first time since 1997-98. ``I just want to see us play a good game,'' Jackson said. ``We're having some flat spells where we stop executing, we stop moving the ball and we start standing around and turnovers ensue on that. We just need to get that clarified.'' Also: Jackson said the team's trainers were encouraged that Luke Walton has not experiencing significant swelling in his moderately sprained right ankle. ``We're hopeful that it's going to be a limited amount of time,'' Jackson said. ... With Odom returning from a sprained knee ligament, forward Vladimir Radmanovic did not play Friday. Jackson said Radmanovic aggravated his sprained right hand during warmups for the game. ... Kwame Brown did some light shooting at practice and said of his sprained left ankle: ``It felt OK, but I felt myself cheating with my right side.'' Brown is not expected back for at least another week. ... The Lakers need a victory today to avoid losing consecutive home games for the first time all season. ross.siler@dailynews.com (818) 713-3607 CAPTION(S): box Box: LAKERS vs. SAN ANTONIO - Ross Siler |
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