Establishing legends.

El Segundo, Ca

After a day of practice, the Lakers will be back home at Staples Wednesday night to host the New York Knickerbockers. Just for showing up on the sidelines, coach Phil Jackson will pass the late Red Auerbach for 11th most games coached in the NBA. Tonight will mark Jackson's 1,418 game at the helm. He is 6th all time on the wins list, and is the only coach to have better than 70% wins in his career (.703). Phil Jackson is now trying to pass the victory cigar smoking coach in NBA titles, with ten. It's fitting for sports history that PJ came close but no cigar in last years NBA finals. He just may have to go through Boston again this year, as the Celtics claim the leagues best record, 23-2. Kobe Bryant, who always seems to be breaking records of his own, needs but three points to tie Clyde Drexler for 21st all-time (22,195). Knowing Kobe, he'll probably just start the game with a deep three to get the business out of the way. 

Monday night, the Lakers beat the Minnesota Timberwolves 98-86. Consistency still remains an achilles heel for Los Angeles. The Lakers had to play all sixty minutes to get the win over a Minnesota team with the 2nd worst record. The Lakers did force 17 turnovers but still gave up ten of their own. Bynum and company also lost the rebound battle 46-53, despite leading the NBA in that department. The positives for LA were the Bench Mob again, and blocking from the bigs. Pau Gasol and Andrew had 3 blocks a piece and the bench added 33 points. Trevor Ariza led the charge with 14 points and three steals, another category the Lakers own. The energy from the second unit is really understated at this early juncture of the season. The Bench Mob often helps pick up the defense and Lamar Odom has made more of a commitment. LO had a meeting with the coaches the other night and stated he was disappointed with the bench's play as of late. He came out promising to lead the young unit, focusing heavily on shutting down the oppositions offensive attacks. This may have been a crucial meeting when everything is said and done come June. If the Lakers bench can continually play well, they should have no problem advancing through the playoffs when bench minutes really count. 

Wednesday the Knicks come to town and that is sure to draw a crowd to Staples. Jack Nicholson should see a bunch of his fellow Hollywood A-Lister's in attendance. The LA-NY games always draw a who's who of celebrity sports fans. Like their famous fanatics, there are many ties between these two teams. Head coach Phil Jackson was originally drafted by the Knicks in 1967, and was a member of the 1970 and 1973 NBA Championship teams. Lamar Odom (Christ the King HS, in Queens) is a New York native and Andrew Bynum (St. Joseph HS, in Metuchen NJ) is from nearby New Jersey. Trevor Ariza is also the youngest player ever to wear a Knicks jersey (19 years, 4 months, 4 days) after being drafted by NY in the 2004 draft. New York brings an 11-13 record into tonight's matchup, but has looked promising as of late. Head coach Mike D'Antoni's high powered offense has helped this rebuilding team reach third in scoring at 104.9 ppg. D'Antoni was acquired in the off-season to help bring this team back to national prominence. Kobe Bryant averaged just over 31 points on 49% shooting in the series sweep of New York last season, however has been a slump, shooting only 39% over his last six contests.