Tuesday report

My only question walking out of practice Tuesday was $25,000 or $50,000. It’s hard to imagine how Phil Jackson doesn’t get fined for painting the picture of a league that has a ``vendetta’’ against Kobe Bryant and twice using the term ``witch hunt.’’

Jackson certainly had his feelings on the NBA’s decision to assess Bryant a flagrant foul penalty 1 for catching Philadelphia’s Kyle Korver in the face with an elbow in Friday’s game. If you want to play David Stern, here are Jackson’s unedited comments:

Q: Were you happy about the league just giving Kobe a flagrant 1?

Jackson: It shouldn’t have even been a flagrant 1. That’s crazy. That’s a vendetta. They have a witch hunt going on. That’s nuts. A guy’s riding somebody. Everybody does that in this league. It’s just becoming a witch hunt now.

Q: Do you have any idea why?

Jackson: I think that obviously once something happens like that and a lot of videotape starts floating around and people are making cuts of things that are happening, there’s a lot of focus on him.

Q: Have you guys sent in tape to the league of him doing the arm motion on his shot?

Jackson: Not that I know of, unless Mitch (Kupchak) has asked our video guy to do that. We’re just collecting things right now.

Q: Is it worrisome when these incidents involving Kobe have been no call, loose ball foul and no call on the court and you end up with two one-game suspensions and a flagrant foul?

Jackson: It is an after the fact type of thing. That is bothersome. They have (the) advantage of looking at videotape. We wish that they would correct some of the mistakes they make in ballgames the same way. There’s a couple games that probably could be swung, won or lost, by some of the calls if they’d correct them after the fact. But you can’t do that in the game.

Q: Stu Jackson said after the second suspension that he didn’t need to consult with the referees because he could watch the video replay. Do you think they should talk to the actual referees before they do something?

Jackson: You’d think that would happen, just off-hand. Even the details of the (Marko) Jaric foul, from what I understand, Jaric got on his arm before he got to the ball. So the shot’s coming, he hits his arm. Kobe’s reacting to his hand. The whole play ensues.

If a referee sees that, he might have called the first foul and not the second. A lot of referees will let a touch of the arm go if a guy pulls his hand back when his shooting motion begins. I mean, that’s how our game’s become.

In those situations, the referee might have said, `Hey, he hit his arm first and Kobe reacted to that first arm touch and tried to draw the foul. But it doesn’t look like they’re making that accommodation at all.

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Luke Walton took part in most of practice but removed himself at the end to avoid any setback in returning from his ankle sprain. Walton is 99.99 percent sure he’s playing Thursday at Denver but Jackson said his minutes will be limited for now.

What that computes to remains to be seen. The Lakers either played five on five or conducted full-court drills for the better part of two hours. Walton got through most of it, although he concedes that pain sets in when the ankle starts getting fatigued.

Walton also had a pretty good state-of-the-team quote in the wake of a six-game losing streak: ``We need some shock therapy or something to get us going again because we’re dead right now.’’

Or this when asked about Sunday’s loss to Dallas: ``It’s one thing if you’re losing, but if you’re getting beat by 20 and they’re still out-hustling you, that’s not right.’’

* * *

Jackson made a pretty stunning statement, I thought, about what the Lakers’ goals are here with barely a month before the playoffs begin. In essence, all the Lakers want to do is stay in the top eight and see what kind of momentum they can generate.

``I basically told them it doesn’t really matter about our record,’’ Jackson said. ``At this point, we’re not searching for 55 wins, obviously. We’re searching for an opportunity to make the playoffs and get healthy.’’

I asked Walton whether Jackson has changed his approach or his tone in the wake of the team’s second six-game losing streak in a little more than a month. Jackson never had known a skid longer than five games before this season.

``He’s always very calm about it,’’ Walton said. ``I think we’re having a lot more conversations about self-checking ourselves now. Normally he lets us work our way out of it without saying much and then once we do, that’s when we talk about it.

``Right now, we’re kind of talking about it a little more. He’s been very successful, so I don’t think he’s out there trying to change his ways.’’

* * *

The Lakers can look on the bright side in one respect: They came into Tuesday with the Western Conference’s most favorable schedule the rest of the season.

The Lakers will play three games against teams with a .500 or better record and 15 games against teams with losing records.

They also have 10 home games and eight road games left. That’s a lot friendlier than Denver (8 home, 13 road) and the Clippers (8 home, 12 road). The Nuggets, however, could pull within a game of the Lakers if they beat Portland tonight at home.

The Lakers have three games left against Denver and two games remaining against Memphis, Sacramento, Phoenix, Seattle and the Clippers. If it comes down to it, the Lakers play their final game of the regular season at Sacramento.

* * *

By Ross Siler
Staff Writer

EL SEGUNDO--Even as Kobe Bryant was forced to serve two one-game suspensions for striking opposing players in the face, Lakers coach Phil Jackson maintained that he didn’t believe the NBA powers-that-be were singling out his star guard.

He wasn’t saying the same thing Tuesday, however, after the league office assessed Bryant a flagrant foul penalty 1 for elbowing Philadelphia’s Kyle Korver in the jaw while trying to dribble free for a shot late in the first half of Friday’s game.

In comments sure to reach the desk of Stu Jackson, the NBA’s executive vice president in charge of all disciplinary matters, Jackson twice referred to a ``witch hunt’’ against Bryant.

``It shouldn’t have even been a flagrant 1,’’ Jackson said. ``That’s crazy. That’s a vendetta. They have a witch hunt going on. That’s nuts. (Korver’s) riding somebody. Everybody does that in this league. It’s just becoming a witch hunt now.’’

An NBA spokesman said the league would review Jackson’s comments today. Jackson was fined $25,000 earlier this season for referring to the ``dubious’’ referee crew that worked the Lakers’ Nov. 30 loss at Utah.

Bryant did not talk to reporters Tuesday but the flagrant foul marked the third time this season that the league has used video replay to punish Bryant after the fact. The NBA does have explicit rules regarding contact made above the shoulders.

No foul was called on the play from Friday’s game. Korver was keeping step with Bryant on defense when Bryant threw his left elbow backward and caught him in the face.

On the plays for which he was suspended, Bryant was not called for a foul when he struck San Antonio’s Manu Ginobili in the face. He was called for a loose ball foul on a nearly identical sequence involving Minnesota’s Marko Jaric.

``Obviously, once something happens like that,’’ Jackson said, ``and a lot of videotape starts floating around and people are making cuts of things that are happening, there’s a lot of focus on him.’’

There are two degrees of flagrant fouls and Bryant was assessed the less severe of the two. Bryant’s contact was deemed to be ``unnecessary’’ as opposed to ``unnecessary and excessive’’ and worthy of immediate ejection.

Another ankle: The Lakers couldn’t even get through their first full practice with Lamar Odom and Luke Walton back on the court before watching Brian Cook land awkwardly on a fast break drill and suffer a moderate left ankle sprain.

Cook, who has started 24 games this season, will be listed as doubtful for Thursday’s game at Denver. The Lakers won’t know the extent of his injury until today, Jackson said.

``It’s out of control right now,’’ Walton said. ``Every time someone starts getting healthy again, someone else goes down. Hopefully, it is just moderate and he’ll be able to get back soon because we’ve got to get something going to make a run for the playoffs.’’

Odom update: Odom tested his injured left shoulder again in practice and could be seen shaking out the pain in his arm at times. As he told reporters, ``I’m going to be in situations where you might see me grimace or grab it, but it’s time to play.’’

There also will be situations when Odom will be forced to use his right hand on the court. He has used his left hand almost exclusively throughout his career.

``I’ll try to do more things with two hands on the ball,’’ Odom said. ``That way I’m a little stronger. I don’t want to get on there and get it wrenched. I’ll have to use it a little bit, pull it out. They’ve been saying, `Force him right since I was like 10 years old.’’’

Also: Maurice Evans (sore right knee) didn’t practice bit is expected to play Thursday. . . . Kwame Brown will start at center against the Nuggets, Jackson said.