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Denver coach George Karl used his press conference following the Nuggets' 103-88 loss to try to get into the referees heads and gain more favorable officiating in Game 2.

"(Andrew Bynum) was playing nice illegal defense," Karl said after Bynum tied the all-time NBA playoff record with 10 blocked shots Sunday. "He zoned up good. I think we got one illegal defense (called against the Lakers). I saw about 30."

Lakers coach Mike Brown chalked Karl's comments up to nothing more than gamesmanship.

"He’s a veteran coach, he’s been in the playoffs a long time," Brown said after practice Monday. "He’s got to try to work the officials in a lot of different ways. He’s just trying to work the officials, work the public a little bit which I applaud him for doing."

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Two siblings for the price of one! Jeanie and Jim Buss appeared respectively on 710 ESPN's Max and Marcellus and Mason and Ireland today, hitting on a wide variety of topics. Because Laker fans can't get enough of their Buss kids, we're passing along the audio to the LO'L faithful. The shows can be heard by clicking on the links below and there are some talking points from each show listed below.

JEANIE BUSS (CLICK HERE TO HERE THE INTERVIEW)

- People have wondered why Jeanie hasn't attended as many games at Staples Center this season. It's because she's taking the opportunity to watch then with her main squeeze Phil Jackson, who's also recovering from knee replacement surgery. "He's doing really well," raves Jeanie. "I honestly think he's two inches taller, because his knee was so painful, it was kind of bow-legged, and now he looks great and he's feeling good.

- Is PJ feeling good enough to coach, and specifically for the Knicks as rumored? Jeanie says it's not worth discussing the Knicks because they have a coach (Mike Woodson), and nobody from New York or any other team has made an offer to begin with. Either way, if PJ comes out of retirement, it'll be because he wants to, rather than money.

- Jeanie is fine with the new CBA's goal of leveling the playing field between bigger and smaller market yeams. However, it's impossible to "revenue share" what the Lakers have in prestige and fans, so in that sense, they'll always have an ace in the hole.

- Phil still follows the NBA pretty regularly and in particular keeps tabs on all of his former players. (Even Vlad Rad!!!) He also hasn't made a prediction as to who will win it all, but thinks OKC-Dal is the most interesting first round matchup.

JIM BUSS (CLICK HERE TO HEAR THE INTERVIEW):

- Dr. Jerry Buss is feeling healthier by the day. In fact, he's about 80-90 percent back, by his son's estimation.

- Like many Lakers fans, he couldn't believe Mike Brown had the huevos to keep Jordan Hill on the floor down the stretch of the double OT win over OKC last Sunday. "I was saying, ‘Get Bynum in there! Get Bynum in there!," recalls Jim. "But we kept playing well and of course Jordan Hill had just a tremendous game, so, as usual I’m wrong and he was right and we won the game."

- Also like many Lakers fans, he places some of the blame on the Metta World Peace-James Harden altercation on the Thunder sixth man. But he also thought the seven-game suspension itself was a fair punishment.

"I know Metta and I know how hard he’s trying," says Jim. "If it was two other players and there was no history, which of course you have to take into consideration, but if there was no history I thought it looked like Harden came into him a little bit, maybe instigated something. Of course the blow as tremendous and awful and doesn’t belong in this game, so I think seven is just absolutely the perfect number … Any less I think it discounts it, any more I think it’s excessive."

Here's the rest of the sweeping interview with Lakers executive vice president Jim Buss: (See Part 1 here)

Q: Let’s talk about you. Do you feel like you’re at a point in your career with the Lakers that you’re beginning to, for lack of a better term, spread your wings a little bit and kind of come into your own with responsibilities and kind of your voice?

“Am I prepared, is that what you’re asking?”

Q: No, not if you’re prepared. Is this your moment? Do you feel like you have more responsibility, more say?

“It’s like watching your kid grow up. Somebody that you haven’t seen in a year comes in and all of the sudden says, ‘Holy crimminy! Look how tall they’ve gotten!’ I do this every day, so I don’t think it’s one day I walked out and started doing this [Buss flaps his arms] kind of thing. I think it’s so gradual that I really haven’t seen the growth that I have. Now, if I look back five years, yes, there’s a lot of responsibility and a lot more say and a lot more decision making, but it wasn’t overnight. It’s been a long process. It’s a fun process, but it’s been a long process and a lot of teachers. Hall of Famers kind of thing. So, this year I think it’s coming to fruition because my dad has mentioned that I’m responsible now for the decisions. But really, I haven’t felt it. It seems like I do this all the time.”

Q: You mention your dad. What’s Dr. Buss’ role with the franchise?

“The boss. Same as it’s ever been. Wait, there’s a song like that ...”

Q: Same as it ever was ...


“Same as it ever was, yeah, that’s it. Same as it ever was. If there’s a decision to be made that’s important to the franchise -- a player movement -- he’s the final hammer. I’ll have a recommendation, Mitch might have a different recommendation and we’ll just let him decide. Usually Mitch and I are on board together. We’ll hack it out first and then we’ll go with a recommendation kind of thing, ‘This is what we feel we should do.’ And there have been times he’s stopped them. There are times where he says, ‘No, I don’t want that.’ So, I mean, it’s his decision. He’s the final guy.”

Q: It seems like yours and Mitch’s relationship is pretty strong. Would you say most of the time all three of you guys are in harmony? Is there healthy disagreements?

“Oh, it’s healthy. We couldn’t survive if we were yes men to each other or to my dad. The three of us will have an opinion, we’ll argue our opinion and then eventually, it gets hashed out to where we’re all on board or one guy isn’t (and) two are and it doesn’t really matter which two or which one. Except for my dad. If it’s two against him, then we’ll probably lose that battle.”

Q: But, someday the buck will stop with you. That’s where it’s headed. You mentioned how gradual it is, but do you feel any pressure to that. That you’ll be responsible for that mantle at some point?

“No.”

Q: Do you look forward to it? Are you excited about it?

“No, because then that means my dad is not involved. So, no, I don’t look forward to it. Am I worried about it? No. Not at all.”

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It was team photo day at the Los Angeles Lakers' practice facility this week. Sitting smack dab in the middle of the front row of smiling participants was Jim Buss, wearing a black baseball-style Lakers cap with a line of players wearing yellow jerseys to either side of him.

Buss, the Lakers’ executive vice president of player personnel, was occupying the spot his father, Lakers owner Jerry Buss, usually takes when it’s time for the team to annually say, “Cheese.” It was a fitting scene, illustrating just how much the younger Buss has been thrust into the forefront of the Lakers’ franchise decisions as his father has watched him assume greater control over the family business.

Jerry Buss is still “the boss,” as Jim Buss says, and his absence from the team photo wasn’t an orchestrated move to pass the baton to his son or anything -- he was simply feeling under the weather the day of the photo shoot, according to a Lakers staffer -- but there will come a time when the Lakers are truly Jim Buss’ team.

Following the photo session, the normally reticent Jim Buss sat down with ESPNLosAngeles.com for a wide-ranging interview. As Buss sipped on a black coffee with three Sweet 'N Lows and scratched his beard that he decided to keep after growing out his facial hair for the first time in his life during the NBA’s 161-day lockout, the conversation spanned his increased role with the Lakers, the team’s championship aspirations, how the new collective bargaining agreement and revenue sharing arrangement will affect business, his relationship with Phil Jackson, and much more. (See Part 2 here.)

Q: What are your thoughts on this season?

“Well, I think it’s coming along just as we anticipated with the changing of the guard of coaches [and] new players. I felt that the second half of the season would be better than the first half. As far as up and down, every season has its ups and downs. To me, this is a normal up and down, so it’s OK. But I like how we’re hitting our stride going into the playoffs, so I’m happy.”

Q: Start with Andrew Bynum. He could be the best player on this team in the second half of the season, all due respect to Kobe.

“I’m not a guy that judges players in different positions against different players. It doesn’t make sense to me to compare a center to a guard. It doesn’t make sense at all. So, to say Andrew Bynum was the best player in the second half, I wouldn’t be comparing him to anybody. You got Pau Gasol, Metta World Peace, Ramon Sessions, Kobe [Bryant]. ... I think they all are the best player on the team in their position.”

Q: You would agree, though, that his performance on the court in terms of production has been the best it’s ever been.

“Yes, of course. If you wanted me to compare him to himself, he’s having his best year.”

Q: Has his attitude or any of his actions on and off the court taken away from some of that production?

“I don’t think so. I like what Phil Jackson said the other day [to the Los Angeles Times]. I thought that was the best way to look at it. The kid is coming into his own and there’s going to be some growing pains and just let him grow. So, I’m good with it.”

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Even though it's been nearly 10 years since Michael Jordan played his last All-Star game in 2003, you couldn't watch this year's All-Star game in Orlando without getting a heavy dose of MJ nostalgia. The Lakers' Kobe Bryant had a lot to do with that, as he pushed his career All-Star scoring total to 271 points, passing Jordan for most points in All-Star game history (Jordan had 262 points in 14 selections; Bryant has played in 14 All-Star games as well).

Jordan was also recognized as one of the stars who was out-dueled by Magic Johnson in Orlando 20 years ago when Magic made his memorable one-game MVP return to the All-Star game after announcing his retirement because of HIV months before.

And if you watched the commercials, instead of flipping back and forth between the All-Star game and the Oscars, you would have noticed Jordan in a new ad for Gatorade featuring former Bulls and Lakers coach Phil Jackson reflecting on Jordan's "flu game" in Game 5 of the 1997 NBA Finals against the Utah Jazz. (Click here to watch the commercial.)

ESPNLA.com was on the set of the commercial shoot at the Walter Pyramid on the campus of Long Beach State back in December and had a chance for a 1-on-1 chat with Jackson about his memories of Jordan's performance with the flu.



ESPNLA.com: When you think back on all the significant games you coached, where does Jordan’s “flu game” rank? On the set, you said something to the effect of, "We know he can score 40, we know he can get triple-doubles, but this stands out because it’s more than that."

Jackson: “Yeah, the big thing was we knew that coming back and playing in Salt Lake was going to be a difficult thing, as it always is in the playoffs. That team was talented and they were good at home. So, after winning two in Chicago, we said, ‘Let’s go out and make sure we win one game out there in Salt Lake.’ We didn’t want to come back [to Chicago] behind 3-2 in a series like that. We lost the second game [in Utah] at the end of the ballgame in a close game.

"Perhaps Michael was doing too much. I can’t remember what his totals were in that ballgame, but he made a spin at the top of the key and [John] Stockton stole the ball and it set up a win for them that we shoulda, coulda won.

(Editor’s note: Jordan finished with 22 points on 11-for-27 shooting in Game 4.)

"So, it was a really a hard defeat. I remember having really a sleepless night that night. I was meeting the owner the next day and I was just really fatigued about it. That mental fatigue that you have after a loss that you think you’re going to win and you don’t sleep very much at night thinking about it. Then, we had a little time to recover and it came down to this game, we ought to take this one home and then the disappointment of finding out on game day that the guy that’s the superstar on our team didn’t sleep, was sick, felt like crap, didn’t feel like he could eat, was nauseous and wasn’t going to go to shootaround. That’s happened before. Guys have felt like they couldn’t go to shootaround. It’s not like the end of the world. But this was a pivotal game and then when we saw him and we saw what he looked like …"

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LOS ANGELES -- Shaquille O’Neal was always afraid the day would never come.

When he signed with the Los Angeles Lakers in 1996, he always dreamed he would one day see his jersey retired alongside Magic Johnson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, James Worthy, Gail Goodrich, Wilt Chamberlain, Jerry West and Elgin Baylor.

As the Lakers continued to get eliminated in the playoffs early during his first three seasons in L.A. he worried it might never happen, and again thought his chance might have been lost when he was traded from the team in 2004 and finished his career with the Boston Celtics.

When the Lakers, however, announced they would retire his jersey next season, O’Neal said it was one of the highlights of his career.

“It means a lot to me,” O’Neal said. “I remember when I first signed with the Lakers, Jerry West told me to look up at the retired jerseys. He said either your name is going to be up there or you’re going to be a bust so it will mean a lot to have my name up there. That was always with me, especially when we didn’t have Phil Jackson and we were always losing in the playoffs, I was nervous I wasn’t going to be that good. Then we got Phil and we won championships and I was always hoping and praying my jersey would get retired one day.”

O’Neal, who was in Los Angeles this weekend to host the Cartoon Network Hall of Game Awards, says he continues to watch the Lakers regularly after retiring in June and enjoyed watching Kobe Bryant pass him for fifth on the NBA all-time scoring list earlier this season. He did say, however, he should have been much higher on the list but injuries and an inability to hit his free throws held him back.

“Kobe’s one of those athletes like Michael Jordan and Karl Malone that doesn’t miss a lot of games because of injury,” O’Neal said. “I missed 250 games and I averaged 24 points per game so that’s 6,000 points and I missed 5,000 free throws so I could have easily been at No. 2. Kobe’s never really hurt and he shoots a lot so good for him.”

Metta World Peace recently made headlines criticizing the inconsistent nature of Mike Brown's rotations, along with what he believes is a fixation on stats. The two have since cleared the air, but did MWP have a point? And should we expect more conflict between various Lakers and their coach down the road?

Along with Dave McMenamin, we chop up matters.

Pressed, poked, and prodded six ways to Sunday on the issue following Wednesday's win over the Clippers, Mike Brown delivered the most articulate expression of his vision for Pau Gasol we've heard this season.

"I personally don't think Pau is an every possession block guy. Not because he can't do it, but just because he's so skilled. If you keep putting him on the block time after time after time, I think defensively they're going to get a rhythm. They'll put a smaller guy on him, they'll get into his lower back, and they'll push him out further and further and further. So what you have to do is keep them guessing, and you keep them guessing by isoing him at the elbow sometimes. Bringing him up for a jumpshot at the elbow sometimes. Playing him in the pick and roll so he can pick and pop for a shot, or make the pass to [Andrew Bynum] ducking in on the backside. Then you put him on the post. So I think he's so versatile, that's why you move him around more than anything else. Andrew, he's a guy you put on the block all the time. They're two different types of players. Pau, as time goes on, will understand that because he'll see the benefits of being moved around because guys can't lock in and just try to beat him up all night on the post, play after play after play."

Brown is correct. Gasol really is too versatile to keep in one spot, particularly on a team no longer sporting Lamar Odom, but still featuring Bynum. Pau has always moved around the floor and performed a wide variety of functions. It's a perfectly solid strategy, one used well last night in his totally dominant 17 point first half. Gasol was effective attacking the glass, in the post, at the elbow, and high on the floor putting the ball on the deck and driving. His role, whether as scorer or facilitator, was large.

Gasol was correct. Beyond the ubiquitous questions of offensive balance and commitment to inside-out play surrounding the Lakers for the last few seasons, too often during the first 19 games Gasol has been marginalized, whether to make room for Bynum in the post or for Kobe Bryant in any number of locations near the paint. He is too good and too accomplished as a passer and scorer to be made an afterthought. Not enough action has been directed Gasol's way specifically for him, particularly given the work he's done defensively in Brown's scheme.

Against the Clippers that changed, as assistant coach John Kuester repeatedly called Gasol's number, particularly early.

As ESPNLA.com's Dave McMenamin notes, Kobe "called BS" on Gasol's complaints after the game, brushing aside questions of coaching adjustments and putting the onus directly on Pau himself. "I think the difference tonight was him," Bryant said. "His energy ... the mentality that he played with yielded some good things for us, which in turn I rewarded him and we rewarded him by getting him the ball more."

Aggressiveness brings touches, he said, and scoring opportunities. "You got to go," he said. "You got to go. And tonight he went."

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In the wake of Kobe's 48 point outburst Tuesday night, we chatted. About Bryant, about point guards, about Dwight Howard. About life, people.

About. Life.

Here's the link to the transcript, if you missed the fun.

Monday, I shared how, despite being competitively wired in a way that flirts with insanity, Kobe Bryant isn't looking forward to a potential mano y' mano with former teammate and current Phoenix Sun Shannon Brown. Kobe took Shannon under his wing from the moment he was traded to the Lakers, and the two developed a tight bond, as mentor and protege, plus good old fashioned friends. Thus, derailing Brown's success, even for just one game, isn't an enticing prospect.

"I don't like playing against my little brothers," said Bryant after Sunday's win against Memphis. "I don't like it. I watched him develop. I watched him grow. Taught him a lot of things. Those are always tough games for me."

I wondered, however, if Brown might view the situation differently. He is, after all, the student in this relationship, as well as the player with considerably more to prove. What better way to demonstrate just how far you've grown than holding your own -- or even besting -- your future Hall of Fame "big bro?" But as Shannon admitted during Tuesday's shootaround, those same conflicted emotions exist for him as well.

"It's almost kind of the same way," acknowledged Brown. "I don't want to have to steal the ball from him. I know he doesn't wanna have to steal it from me. The competitive part is still there, but you never want to see a person that you built a close, close relationship to fail in any type of way. Even though, if we win, we win, but [as far as] our personal relationship, it's kind of tough."

This situation lends Brown insight towards what goes through Pau Gasol's mind while matched up against Marc. "They've probably got scars and war wounds from they was young going at each other. But I can definitely understand the vibe and the feelings that nobody really wins, even though somebody wins."

This being "probably the first" relationship Shannon's ever had with a veteran superstar, those feelings get mixed even further.

"It's special for me, because him being the type of person he is, he didn't have to embrace me the way he did. He could have just helped me a little bit and then kept it an on-court relationship. But it went off the court and we built it into a friendship. I'm grateful for that, also."

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Sunday, Derek Fisher played his 501st consecutive game and 683rd over the course of his 15 year career. The majority of those have come as the lead guard in the triangle offense.

This year, for the first time since a three-year stint through Golden State and Utah between '04-'07, Fisher is being asked to run a traditional offense in which the point guard isn't another, interchangeable part but instead is, well, a point guard.

Like everyone else in a Lakers jersey, he's working through a learning curve. "There are a lot of things we're doing on the floor right now, we're making calls. We're dictating what's going to happen when a play starts, and we haven't yet developed the ability to react properly when a defensive player denies or takes something away. We start to look really choppy," Fisher said Saturday. "So for me, it's finding ways as we grow, to still control the tempo of a game, to make sure that we're executing properly, even when we really don't know what we're doing."

"There's a lot more pressure on that point guard to really get people to the right spots, to make sure we're moving where we're supposed to move, and really attacking that clock early, and not walking the ball up the floor."

Given how long he played in Phil Jackson's system and the way his skill set had come to be defined by it creates a perception Fisher is a triangle point guard who must now adjust his game to play a more traditional role. In fact, Fisher says it's the other way around. "I'm a point guard by nature. That's what I grew up playing, and I adjusted to become the best player I could be in the triangle. I've always preferred to have five or six assists as opposed to one or two. This system will allow me to facilitate more plays," he said.

Fisher is unequivocal in his enjoyment of the system change ("I love it."), and believes nobody should be surprised.

"A lot of people back in '04 when I left and went to Golden State really only focused on the contract as far as why I left. But it was really the desire to be outside of the triangle and try some new things," he said. "A new challenge of really being a point guard, and handling the basketball and deciding who is going to get the ball where. That's exciting. To make a play for somebody else is as exciting to me as hitting a shot myself. That's how I came into this league. I had never run the triangle before I came into the NBA."

For what it's worth, two of Fisher's three highest efficiency seasons came with the Warriors, playing that more traditional role. The Lakers have to hope something similar happens this year, despite the passage of time. With long odds for a sizable upgrade from outside the organization, the question of how well Fisher (and Steve Blake) perform is key to L.A.'s title hopes. Last season, the Lakers had the least productive point guard tandem in the league. ESPN.com's John Hollinger has argued it was quite possibly the worst tandem at any position on any team in the NBA. Some of that was the triangle's natural limitations on point guard production, particularly when surrounded by Kobe Bryant, Pau Gasol, Andrew Bynum, and Lamar Odom.

Most of it wasn't.

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The introduction of a new coaching staff naturally brings a learning curve. It's true under the most normal of circumstances, and even more so this season. The Lakers are integrating Mike Brown's offensive system along with fresh additions to the roster without the teaching time afforded by a typical offseason and training camp. Playing precision basketball from the jump is an almost impossible demand, as evidenced by their 40-plus turnovers in two preseason games.

Other squads around the league face similar hurdles, but for the Lakers there's an additional complicating layer.

Throughout the Phil Jackson era, anytime the Lakers acquired a new player it raised the question of how long it would take for him to learn the system. Now the process is working in reverse. Key pieces of the Lakers' roster have had their NBA wiring formed in the triangle. Andrew Bynum has never played in a different system. For all intents and purposes, neither has Kobe Bryant. Derek Fisher is so closely associated with Triangle Point Guard, he's treated like a living, traveling exhibit from the Naismith Museum.

Principles of the offense are run throughout the league and the Lakers didn't run it all the time, but the triangle had been the Lakers' foundation for over a decade. They were the only team using it, and the mindset, approach, and execution were very specific.

As Bryant explains, unplugging from it isn't an instant process:



Following Monday's loss to the Clippers, Bynum admitted he was still feeling his way through. "Offensively, I don't know exactly where to be on every play," he said. "I really am so used to being on one side of the basketball, ducking in, and then reading different actions. In this offense, it’s more timing. More reading other players, knowing when to dive, versus when not to."

Talking with him later this week at practice, he elaborated:

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EL SEGUNDO, Calif. -- After two weeks of anger and confusion following the collapse of the Chris Paul trade and the inexplicable dumping of Lamar Odom, a night of civic embarrassment at the hands of the Los Angeles Clippers and a day to let the first wisps of public criticism from his new coach sink in, Kobe Bryant coolly emerged from the Lakers' training room Tuesday afternoon with a message.

If there is a solution to what is ailing the Los Angeles Lakers, as far as Bryant is concerned, new coach Mike Brown will be part of it.

For months we waited and wondered whether Bryant would finally give his seal of approval to Brown, who was hired by Lakers owner Dr. Jerry Buss, executive vice president Jim Buss and general manager Mitch Kupchak without any conversation or consultation with the franchise's best player.

Bryant had been left out of the loop, and while he's never publicly said he was miffed at that decision-making process, his silence spoke volumes.

In the first few days of training camp, Bryant paid Brown some light compliments. Then Tuesday, without much prompting, he went all the way and tried to make an ally for however long they are both charged with righting the Lakers ship.

"What I've heard about him [before this season] was he was a pushover, he doesn't say what he's thinking and all this other sorts of stuff," Bryant said. "I haven't seen that at all. He's been the complete opposite. He's been detail oriented, he's been up front and open and honest. He praises guys when they do well, he jumps on them when they're messing up right away."

It was an interesting statement to make on the day after Brown had criticized Bryant's defense in the Lakers' blowout loss to the Clippers in an exhibition game Monday night.

A way of symbolically blessing the Brown hire, and letting his teammates know they needed to buy into the new systems and culture Brown and his staff have been preaching since camp opened almost two weeks ago.

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As I was walking from the media room to the court to watch guys shoot around before tonight's game, I saw Mike Brown come into the building carrying a suit over one arm, and an ironing board, still wrapped in plastic, under the other.

An ironing board?

"I like to iron my shirts before the game," he said.

Fair enough. I once ran into Eric Clapton at a laundromat. Turns out he finds it relaxing to do his own laundry while on the road. Everyone has his habits, and you have to respect guys who don't require a valet for daily tasks. Even better, Brown picked up his ironing board himself at Target on the way to the arena.

Call it a hunch, but I doubt Phil Jackson spent much time roaming the aisles of his neighborhood Tar-zhay.

The question is a fairly simple one, “What’s the best-case scenario for the Lakers?”

My first thought probably didn’t answer the question but remains as true today as it was last week, when the Lakers began engaging in more talks than a nervous fantasy owner.

“The best-case scenario is Jim Buss knows what he's doing and doesn’t run this team into the ground.”

Overdramatic? Perhaps, but after seeing what has happened to the Lakers since the start of training camp it’s hard not to wonder what’s going on.

The Lakers let Shannon Brown go to the Phoenix Suns over a $1.1 million difference in salary then traded Lamar Odom to the Dallas Mavericks for an $8.9 million trade exception. Meanwhile they have so far struck out in their attempts to trade for Chris Paul and/or Dwight Howard while teams such as the Los Angeles Clippers and New Jersey Nets have reportedly inched past them in trade talks for both players.

So the Lakers lost two of their top five players, at least statistically, to conference rivals and got nothing in return except a $10 million saving on their payroll and have yet to land one of the superstar players they coveted coming into this season.

Other than that, you know, things are going well.

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