2011 February | Los Angeles Lakers Online Fan Shop and Blog

Lakers Coach Phil Jackson agrees with Mark Cuban!

Phil Jackson is often fearless, standing up for what he believes, even though it has cost him hundreds of thousands of dollars in NBA-imposed fines in his coaching career.

So it wasn't surprising to see the Lakers' coach sound off on one of the least-tracked trades before Thursday's deadline: New Orleans received forward Carl Landry from Sacramento for guard Marcus Thornton.

Jackson didn't have a problem with personnel. It was about money.

The Hornets were temporarily purchased by the NBA in December because their owner was tired of losing money, though the Hornets added about $2 million to their books in Thursday's deal.

"I want to know who is making that trade and how they can take on that salary when everybody else in the league — I mean this is the owners — [has] to take on this extra salary," said Jackson, and he wasn't done. "Those are things that seem to be manipulations that I'm not quite comfortable with. Where's the consensus? If New Orleans happens to win the championship, does everybody get a trophy in the NBA?"

Jackson's opinion found an unlikely ally — Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban, who has fenced with the Lakers' coach over a litany of issues for the better part of a decade. Not this time.

"If New Orleans is taking back $2 million and the team is losing money and I own 1/29th of it, I'm going to go against the grain and say that's just wrong," Cuban told reporters in Dallas. "There's no way, with their payroll, having to dump salary before they were sold to us [owners], now they can take on more salary while they're losing money. That's just wrong every which way."

Jackson also didn't like what was going on with Detroit.

Several Pistons players skipped the team shoot-around Friday to protest that Coach John Kuester had not been fired.

"I feel badly for John Kuester," Jackson said. "I think it's a black eye for the league. I feel like Detroit's in disarray right now on some level. You always worry about a coach and his psyche after something like that happens."

Money talk

Lakers sideline reporter John Ireland is letting his talking do the walking.

Before the Lakers played Cleveland last week, Ireland said on his talk-radio show he would walk back to Los Angeles if the woeful Cavaliers won. The unthinkable happened and he soon faced a bevy of listeners and fellow media members reminding him of his claim.

Instead of braving the 2,344-mile trek on foot, Ireland donated $1,000 to the "Autism Speaks" walk at the Rose Bowl and created a donor page with hopes of raising the noteworthy number of $2,344 for the cause.

With the event still two months away, Ireland has already almost tripled his target.

"Don't let anyone tell you it doesn't pay to be an idiot," Ireland said, smiling. "This was an idiotic mistake that I felt bad about and it's turned into this."

mike.bresnahan@latimes.com

twitter.com/Mike_Bresnahan

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February 26, 2011 · Filed under Uncategorized

Lakers, Kobe Bryant are old hands at this

And then, things got tough for the twice-defending NBA champions.

Just when the Lakers thought it was safe to go back into Staples Center with their two-game winning streak, Kobe Bryant was swiped across the right elbow, put a towel over his head in pain on the bench, went to the dressing room and came back for the second half with a sleeve on his right arm which he carried low, playing predominantly left-handed.

Then he scored 18 of his 24 points in the third quarter, drilling eight of 11 shots including two three-pointers, as the Lakers beat the Clippers, 108-95.

Now it's a three-game winning streak, once a matter of course in Lakerdom, but not lately.

Not that Lakers Coach Phil Jackson ever doubted Bryant would be back.

"Not after I asked him if he was OK," Jackson said.

"He said, 'I'll be there.'"

In other words, he's Kobe Bryant. He does these things.

How many more miracles the Lakers will need, or Bryant has in him, remains to be seen. But compared to what's coming, this was recess.

Starting with Sunday's game against the Thunder, the Lakers will play in Oklahoma City, San Antonio, Atlanta, Miami and Dallas within 15 days.

Not that the Lakers aren't ready, but Jackson, asked before the game how they're doing, said, in effect, it beats him.

"You know, it's just a one-game-at-a-time thing with this team," he said.

"We'd love to get momentum and have a seven-game winning streak, a 10-game winning streak, but we are just not that consistent yet, where we can say, 'We really have momentum going.'"

Bemused as usual, Jackson evinced little interest in the Clippers, who mauled his team once and would have been 2-0 against the Lakers if not for Derek Fisher's last-second layup.

Nevertheless, Jackson dispensed with questions about the cross-town rivals as if smashing lobs in badminton.

Q: What have you learned about the Clippers that might be applicable tonight?

PJ, grinning: "I don't know what to do with that question. Go on to the next one."

Q: Anything that concerns you about the Clippers?

PJ: "No."