Jackson Prepares For The Worst Phil Jackson interrupted the pre-playoff buzz with a bit of bad news: The Portland Trail Blazers are coming to town. A few minutes after the Lakers shelved Golden State, the Laker coach reminded the media, effervescing fans, and, not-so-subtly, his players that the Lakers had been handled twice already this season by the league's worst team. -- Los Angeles Times Odom's Game On The Rise The difference between putting up good numbers and great numbers can be as simple as getting one more layup per game to fall. The difference between being selected as an All-Star or not can be connecting on one more 3-pointer than usual. That's how Lamar Odom has rationalized things during his two seasons with the Lakers, often when the criticism of his play has grown loudest. His job is to fill up the box score, and Odom has been sensational more nights than not recently. -- Los Angeles Daily News What A Long, Strange Trip In his NBA basketball journey, Jim Jackson has found homes all across the United States. It is an odyssey Jackson has been on for 14 years, pulling into 12 different ports, never staying in one place for long. Jackson, 35, is tied for playing with the most NBA teams; he would have the record, but he never reported to New Orleans after being traded there in 2004. -- Riverside Press-Enterprise Bryant The Best, But He's Not The MVP He is the most talented player in the game. He makes more clutch shots than anybody on the planet, and he stamped his indelible signature on this season with that big, fat 81 he dropped on Toronto. But there is one startling reason Kobe Bryant can't be the MVP of the NBA: He is too good for his own team. There is such a huge dropoff between him and everyone else on the Lakers, there have been too many nights like the recent loss to Denver when he took 39 shots and finished with one assist. Too many nights when his competitiveness seems to hurt the team almost as much as it helps it. -- Orange County Register Odom, Brown Key To Playoff Success One of Kevin Garnett's recent complaints about his dead-end existence in Minnesota was that the Timberwolves have been unable to identify their core -- the players who, with Garnett, are the team's foundation. For the Lakers, a look at the salary list shows that, besides Kobe Bryant, there are only two players with guaranteed contracts for two seasons beyond this one -- and they are the highest-paid on the team this season after Bryant. The Lakers' core is Bryant, Lamar Odom and Kwame Brown, and if the team is to make a mark in the upcoming playoffs, Odom and Brown must continue to be consistent standouts. -- Orange County Register
