Lakers Refuse to Coast

AUBURN HILLS, Mich. -- The Lakers are the only team in the West that has officially clinched a playoff berth, and with a 10-game lead over the next closest team with 11 games to go, they should have the top seed locked up by the end of the weekend. After a long season, the Lakers have earned the right to coast to the finish line, right?

That's not how Phil Jackson sees it. Perhaps still trying to cultivate a "killer instinct," Jackson demanded perfection late in Thursday's 92-77 win over the Pistons. Despite the fact that his team led by as many as 17 in the final quarter, he didn't remove any of his starters for good until they proved they could play with as much focus with the lead as they did while erasing a 10-point deficit early in the third quarter.

"I asked them for five executions [or] sequences, and they couldn't get any accomplished," Jackson said. "And I wanted them to get it just because it's an important part of our game. Regardless of the score, you have to be able to play with the lead and understand how to play with the lead – use the clock, don't take long shots, don't foul, don't stop the clock – those kinds of things. I just wanted them to get the message."

Derek Fisher and Lamar Odom didn't sit until the two-minute mark, and Kobe Bryant didn't leave until there was just 1:22 left in the game; Pau Gasol and Trevor Ariza, meanwhile, finished the game.

After the game, Odom seemed receptive to Jackson's message. "He wanted us to run our offense and go through our first, second and third option," Odom said. "Just get the shot we wanted, take some time off the clock. It's important for the second half of the season, which is playoffs."

As Odom described it, the Lakers are taking the same business-like approach to finishing the season as Jackson demands from his players finishing games. "At this point in time, they're all big for us," he said. "Every game we play we fell like is a winnable game. We look at these trips as business trips. We just want to play our 'A' game, [and] if not, still find a way to win it."


Odom denied peeking ahead to any potential matchups in the first round. "Not yet. It's so tight, not right now. We'll take every team seriously, of course, but our goal right now is to worry about the games that are in front of us."

Even so, he did admit that finishing with the best record in the league was one of the team's goals, and as such, the team keeps tabs on the Cavaliers, whom the Lakers trail by a single game.

"We're all fans of ESPN, right? Everybody here?" Odom asked the scrum of reporters. "Of course you go home and turn it on and give it a look. We don't hope they win, you know what I'm saying? But, who do they play, did they play tonight?"

No tomorrow, a reporter answered.

"Tomorrow night? Who do they play?"

Minnesota.

"Minnesota. So tomorrow, we hope Minnesota shoots the ball well."