Jackson’s presser

By Gary Dzen

June 10, 2008

1 minute to read

Lakers coach Phil Jackson spent most of his pregame press conference talking about the Tim Donaghy referee scandal, but he did touch a bit on the current NBA Finals.

Jackson called out one of his own players, saying Lamar Odom has to step up.

“I’ve given him a little bit of information, you know, some video work to do and to think about,” said Jackson. “No doubt about it. We need Lamar to play the type of game he can give us, a 10-, 12-rebound game and six or eight assists.”

Jackson also responded to some comments from Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling, who was sitting next to the Lakers bench for Game 2. Schilling criticized the way Kobe Bryant interacted with his teammates during the game.

Jackson defended Bryant.

“One of the things that Kobe does is he’s a very — he’s an inspiring captain,” said Jackson. “You know, I saw that in the tape and I got some comments from people that saw it in the video that he pocketed Radmanovic on the leg after he made like three possessions in a row, rather strange. That’s the type of thing that as a coach I’m OK with it. Sometimes Vladi needs even more than that [laughter]. He needs a dose of reality to get him back in where he’s got to go.

“So I think Kobe does a good job on that. After the game he was very vocal with his teammates about let’s go back to LA and put it in perspective, win at home and get this thing back here to win on the road.”

As for Schilling, Jackson said he didn’t much care for his comments.

“I’ve been against that for as long as I’ve been coaching,” he said. “Those people don’t belong there, somebody is going to get hurt. But that becomes part of what the NBA is about, being close to the action and close to the scene. We have to suffer the consequences because of it.”