Losses New Challenge for Jackson

<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">EL SEGUNDO ? Lakers coach Phil Jackson has not experienced losing five games in a row as a coach since his early days with the Chicago Bulls. Certainly not in his first stint with the Lakers, who won three NBA titles under Jackson.

But these Lakers are not those Lakers, and Jackson is learning how to deal with new experiences. The Lakers dropped their fifth consecutive game after losing home and road games to Utah on Sunday and Tuesday. They face Philadelphia tonight at Staples Center.

"There have been some sleepless nights," Jackson said after Thursday's practice. "But we'll get through it. I can tell the team is improving, and that allows me to be able to put up with it (losing)."

Jackson said he could take solace in the team's recent slide because the losses have come against "high- quality teams," teams that finished with good records last season.

The Lakers faced Utah without Kobe Bryant, who was serving a two-game suspension for a flagrant foul to Mike Miller of Memphis. Bryant is averaging 32.7 points.

"We missed Kobe a little bit, and we didn't want to give up a lot (with his absence). But here we are saddled with a five-game losing streak, and we'll fight to get out of it."

Getting out of their skid won't come easily with Philadelphia, the Clippers and Indiana on the horizon. The three teams own better records than the Lakers (15-16) but have encountered their own shooting woes and losing streaks.

"We'll play better," said Bryant, who will play tonight. "The season is such a roller coaster with peaks and valleys, especially for a young team like us. We'll play better."

Bryant said he has to play better and the team must improve its defense. The last time the Lakers played Philadelphia, Nov.11, Bryant scored 17 points, while 76ers guard Allen Iverson had 34 points on 10-of-23 shooting from the floor and 12-of-16 free-throw shooting.

"I need to try and contain him (Iverson)," guard Smush Parker said. "I need to keep my body between him and the basket. As a team, we need to contain him. He's one of those guys that you can't guard him individually, you have to do it as a team."</div>

Source

 

Don't sleep on Von Wafer, he's going to be a pleasant surprise in the second half of the season for this team. He has the scoring mentality this team is lacking and once he gets comfortable in the offense you'll start seeing what he's capable of doing. Right now he's just settling for jumpshots, but he is a great finisher and high flyer. He has that killer mentality and is highly competitive ala Kobe.

He must be playing very well in practices, because he received a lot of Kobe's minutes in the last game. He scored 9 points on 9 shots in 16 minutes. I wouldn't be surprised to see him get some burn against Iverson tonight either.

As for Bynum, it's really hard to understand why he's not getting any opportunities.

Unfortunately for Laker fans, our local media coverage is terrible. These writers are fixated on Kobe and Phil and tabloid journalism. There's no one to report how the team is progressing in practices and tracking the development of the rookies. There's tidbits here and there, but nothing consistent. I'd like to know how Bynum is doing going head to head against Mihm and Kwame. Maybe he's getting killed in practice so he's not getting any playing time. I'd also like to know what his weight is at now and how his strength and conditioning is coming along.

Right now we are just left to wonder and second guess things because we don't have the entire story in front of us.