Lakers’ coach administers effective prep session for second Jazz match up of season

Lakers coach Phil Jackson rounded up the troops Thursday, Dec. 27, to watch the 48-minutes known to team members as the game from hell - the November match up against the Phoenix Suns in which Los Angeles fell 120-96, despite the fact that two of the Sun’s leading players were benched with injuries, according to an article published Dec. 27 by the Long Beach Press-Telegram.

That pep talk must of had a lasting effect on the team, because the Lakers faced off against the Suns that evening at the Staples Center and brought home a 122-115 victory, with major help from Kobe Bryant, who had 38 points, and Andrew Bynum, who scored a record high of 28 points, according to a Reuters article published Friday, Dec. 28, on the Washington Post official Web site. Bryant, who became the youngest player in the NBA to score 20,000 points, gave way to 26 of his game points in the second half of play, according to Reuters. The Lakers, who have won three consecutive games and nine of its past eleven played, are one game off from being ranked at the top of their Pacific conference. But Jackson, always level-headed and calculating, is not getting his hopes up just yet, he told Reuters.

“We are aware of the standings, but we also know that last year we were 10 games over .500 and moving along — then injuries slayed the dragon, so to speak,” Jackson said, according to the Washington Post article. “We just have to play every game and not think about anything else, just what’s ahead of us.”

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