Lakers.com BasketBlog

Some fun (or random) facts and pregame presser info about tonight’s contest:

- The Lakers have not won here since Feb. 23, 2005 (you hadn’t heard that yet this week, right…)?

- The Lakers split the season series with Portland in each of the last two seasons, going 4-0 at home and 0-4 on the road against the Blazers.

- Phil Jackson’s favorite thing about Brandon Roy: “I like his composure.”

- This is the 193rd meeting between the Blazers and Lakers, with L.A. winning 108 times.

- Jackson quipped that he might ban the players from going to the Nike Employee Store because of how much time and effort it takes, then reiterated that he was kidding.

- Kobe Bryant is averaging 27.7 points against the Trail Blazers in 46 career games.

- Pau Gasol has not yet attempted to run on his hamstring, according to Jackson. The Lakers are 19-3 with Gasol in the lineup and 9-4 without him this season.

- Kurt Rambis was coaching the Lakers during the team’s second trip to Portland last year as Jackson stayed in L.A. due to health issues. L.A. lost 106-98 after leading by as many as 10 points late in the second quarter.

- The New Jersey Nets and Washington Wizards announced plans to limit gambling on the team’s charter plane today. Back in his playing days, Phil Jackson said that he played cards with his teammates. He explained that he has no problem with his players playing, and actually thinks it can be a good an entertaining way for the players to pass the time. “I’m not in favor of (banning it) right now at all,” he said.

Prior to each and every game, Phil Jackson takes some time to address assembled media. His roughly six-minute conversation in Detroit is summarized below:

On his message to the L.A. beat writers that couldn’t make it out of the East Coast snowstorm:
Jackson: Too bad, so sorry. They’ll have to write about it from New York.

On the team’s energy level:
Jackson: We got a run out of our second unit in the second quarter last night, kind of saved our starters for the second half (in New Jersey) and hopefully for tonight, so we didn’t burn them out. We’ll see how it goes.

Oh his thoughts about the Pistons:
Jackson: They’re on a little bit of a losing spell, they have to come out and stand up and we know that. They’ve been winning at home … they’re a physical team, an aggressive team, they play a physical game so we have to meet that physicality in the game.

On if seeing the Pistons a month ago without Tayshaun Prince and Richard Hamilton helps prepare for Detroit despite limited time:
Jackson: They’re starting (Chucky) Atkins and (Jason) Maxiell, so they put different guys in the starting lineup and we have to be prepared for that. We anticipate that (Ben) Gordon might play tonight - I’m not sure what it’s going to crank out to be. Hamilton’s been in and out, we were anticipating perhaps he might be (ready) for this game. But we have to be prepared for drive and screen roll, those are the things that are going to be at us tonight.

On how Kobe’s finger continues to affect him:
Jackson: He said last night it bothered him more than it did two games ago, the game prior to that. Those are the kind of things where if he gets hit, it irritates him, but he’s found a way to play through it.

On how big of a factor Pau Gasol has been:
Jackson: He just gives us so many options. He’s a great passer, and when he plays a power forward role with Andrew (Bynum) in the game, he’s capable of playing outside guys, inside big players … his speed is good enough to get back on defense so we don’t get hurt transition wise, and his screen-roll defense is very good for a big guy. When Andrew goes out and he moves over to the post, he can play a variety of things from high post to low post. It changes up our offense, makes us really flexible.

On if this is as complete a starting five as he’s had:
Jackson: Well, we’re a little clumsy. We lost speed with (Ron) Artest, we don’t have that outright speed or fastbreak that we had, the capability of breaking games like that. But Ron gives us a defensive player that really is a lock-down guy. He can get on a guy and limit his touches, limit his offensive productivity, so that’s a whole different aspect of our game. Trevor (Ariza) was a good defensive player, good at (getting steals), but Ron is good on bodies and getting to guys, so that’s a great aspect for our team.