PHILADELPHIA - If they're building toward a championship, this was more mortar than brick.
The Lakers got back their easy offensive groove, albeit not their hard defensive edge, in a 114-102 victory over the Philadelphia 76ers on Wednesday night. They bounced back from their at-the-buzzer loss in Indiana well enough to win again and reach 15-2 but left Lakers coach Phil Jackson dissatisfied with the defense, saying: "We are what we are: a good offensive team."
Jackson is well aware that offense comes almost effortlessly to his team. What he is asking for isn't nearly as natural - some sacrifices that only time will tell if certain Lakers are prepared to make.
Lamar Odom has squawked about the time and space Jackson is using him a couple of times already. And now that Jackson has played Odom instead of Andrew Bynum for the last half of the fourth quarter the past two games, Bynum is miffed.
When told Jackson had pointed out that Bynum had merely three rebounds Wednesday night and was outrebounded by some Lakers guards, Bynum countered: "I might've gotten some in the last six minutes. You never know. You never know until the fat lady sings. He (Jackson) sings for me a lot."
Jackson had dismissed Bynum before the game as wholly unqualified to criticize his coaching decisions, saying: "That's none of his business. ... He's a kid."
Bynum, 21, did validate that somewhat by the arrival in the locker room of a plate of fried food for him from Chickie's & Pete's Crabhouse and Sports Bar just an hour before tip-off. Yet the deeper issue with Bynum is that he feels that he can do more.
Well, most of the Lakers feel the same way. But everyone knew that sacrificing shots, points and minutes was going to be part of the championship chase this season.
It would be a stretch to categorize Bynum as disgruntled or even insolent toward Jackson. Bynum sort of shrugged as he said: "It's just something that's going to happen, I guess. Sometimes I'm out there; sometimes I'm not."
Part of it is that Bynum has clearly caught on to Jackson's tactic of prodding him through the media (and Jackson threw another motivator out there Wednesday for his whole team by citing travel from the West Coast as why "I don't think there's any chance we get anywhere close to 70 wins"). The other part is that Jackson's primary method of getting through to players is by withholding playing time.
It's actually quite good for the Lakers that Bynum has the fire to strive for more and even ask for it.
And Bynum had his moments Wednesday night with 18 points on 7-of-11 shooting. Pau Gasol (22 points on 8-of-12 shooting, 13 rebounds, three blocks) and Kobe Bryant (32 points on 12-of-20 shooting, six rebounds) were better.
Bryant was motivated by two things: the one-point loss that just transpired with him settling for a missed jumper that could've extended the Lakers' lead to three points with 14.9 seconds left and the poor shooting performance he had last December here in the city of his youth.
NoSchmo 
