ShareThisLOS ANGELES - As the Chicago Bulls recover from the humiliation of squandering a 35-point third-quarter lead against Sacramento on Monday, here's something that will probably only add to their misery.
Their collapse provided their former coach with fodder for his latest teaching point.
Fed up with his bench's inability to hold double-digit fourth-quarter leads this season, Los Angeles Lakers coach Phil Jackson made a point of mentioning the Bulls' second-half breakdown to his own team before Tuesday's 111-108 win over Oklahoma City. The Lakers backups have repeatedly forced Jackson to reinsert his starters late in games, most recently on Sunday when Detroit trimmed a 21-point fourth-quarter lead to eight with two minutes left.
"No doubt we have to work on that," Jackson said. "That second unit knows it. When three or four of them gets on the floor at once, they've really got to work harder to get what we want accomplished."
The message from Jackson was long overdue, according to Lamar Odom, who said he'd addressed the issue with other reserves on Sunday.
"My one pet peeve is when we have a lead, Kobe get's taken out of the game and he has to come back in the game," Odom said. "It shows weakness in our team for the coach to have to put Kobe Bryant back in the game."
When reporters pointed out that the late leads typically only disappear once Jackson inserts bench players who don't see regular playing time, Odom insisted that's no excuse. The key to reversing the trend, according to Odom, is for members of the bench to play team-first basketball rather than seeking out the first shot available to pad their stats.
Odom acknowledged it's easier for him to do that in the first year of a five-year contract, but said "it just makes us so much better" when everyone else does too.
"If we can play well as a second unit, teams will be ... afraid because they know what they've got to deal with when the starters come in," said Odom, who had 12 points and nine rebounds off the bench Tuesday night.
Elsewhere, with Andrew Bynum recovering from the upper respiratory infection that hampered him on last week's road trip, Jackson said he believes the center will emerge from his mini-slump.
"I think he's going to come back a little bit now," Jackson said. "I thought physically he struggled on this road trip.
Bynum averaged 10.4 points and 3.8 rebounds on the five-game road trip and battled constant foul trouble. He chipped in Tuesday night with 11 points, seven rebounds, four blocks and two assists in 29 minutes.
(Reach Jeff Eisenberg at jeisenberg(at)PE.com.)
(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)
Must credit The Press-Enterprise of Riverside, Calif.
