The Story Is ... Well, It’s Like This

Phil Jackson and Kobe Bryant did their best to quiet a minor controversy after the Lakers’ decision to have Derek Fisher defend Mike Bibby late in Game 5.

After Tuesday’s 92-91 loss to the Kings, Jackson said that Bryant told him during the game that he wanted to defend Bobby Jackson. “[Kobe] said, ‘I don’t feel quite comfortable picking [Bibby] up at this time and not being used to his move,’” Jackson said. “I think it was a decision he wanted to make and I concurred with him.”

But Bryant somewhat disagreed with his coach, claiming that he never backs from a challenge and that Jackson’s quote was “ridiculous.”

On Wednesday, Jackson explained his decision again.

“We felt that [Fisher] had done a good job; he had fought his way back after playing a rather poor six minutes in the third quarter,” Jackson said. “He got his second wind and started playing the right way.... Kobe and I actually concurred about it and he said, ‘[Fisher] is doing a good job and that he’d rather stay with Bobby Jackson.’ And from that point, we stayed with that.”

When asked again about his conversation with Jackson, Bryant seemed offended.

“You guys should know that I don’t even think like that,” Bryant said after Wednesday’s practice. “My mind doesn’t even work like that.... We both mutually agreed at the time that [Fisher] was doing a good job on him.”

Jackson and Bryant each agree that it really doesn’t matter how the conversation went because they know that the Lakers have to do something to contain Bibby.

“If Phil wants me to be on him for 48 minutes, I’ll [defend] him for 48 minutes,” said Bryant, who has done a better-than-average job defending Bibby.

*

Peja Stojakovic did not make a basket and finished with only two points in 18 minutes on Tuesday, but Jackson expects the King forward to have more impact in Game 6 on Friday.

“He should be a lot better after getting some game experience,” Jackson said.

An effective Stojakovic is another challenge the Lakers will have to overcome against the Kings, who are 5-1 on the road in the postseason.

“They are a team that comes to our home court knowing that they’ve played good on the road,” Jackson said.

*

Shaquille O’Neal on the officiating in the series, which has awarded the Kings 37 more free throws than the Lakers: “I don’t want to make this like I’m complaining and whining. This is just some of the things that you have to go through. But I think people see and understand what is going on.”

Jackson on the same subject: “All things are judgment calls and we didn’t get some calls for us in [Game 5]. Sometimes, it goes like that.... We won a game at the buzzer and they won a game at the buzzer.... Now it’s time to settle in and play the game we know how to play, then carry it back to their court and do the same thing so we can have another chance to win.”