Posted by: admin in General

After the series of events that has transpired between HBK, Y2J and The Animal Batista, Jericho calls his guest a spineless worm and proceeds to attack him. Cena fights out, but gets nailed again with another big boot to the skull. Melina comes in, goes nuts on the Glamazon, and drives her face down into the mat with a Turnbuckle Faceplant.As the Divas split, McMahon phones his second winner, and Justin Guy of Greenville, Tennessee is able to pocket $75,000.As RAW returns, WWE Rewind shows highlights of last week's main event between John Cena and Jeff Hardy. "He looked confused out there tonight." The inconsistent Odom, to be kind, shot 5-11, scored 10 points and grabbed eight rebounds.His adequate but hardly stellar production must have Jackson thinking: this front line is the next Bird-McHale-Parish? Maybe Andrew Bynum joins the fold next season and fills the obvious defensive void but the sidelined 21-year-old has nothing to offer a coach who needs plenty right now.The Lakers can watch their 'almost did it' run in the fourth quarter and count on running their offense anytime the Celtics lose interest in playing the game.The Lakers played defense without the 'd' and Jackson will be in further disbelief when he sees the Celtics doing the same through many stretches.

The coach would much rather return to Denver, where the Nuggets' defense suffers from lacktitude sickness.Then, there's NSP (Not Scottie Pippen) and Jackson has no idea what to do there."Confused," he said of Lamar Odom's play. There was Kobe Bryant, the perfect player for these situations, who laughs at manageable deficits, and Pau Gasol, 5-7 from the field at the half, getting zero touches.In one trip down the floor, he glared at the spotty player he calls "My Favorite Martian" and Radmanovic answered his coach's stare with a turnover that validated an earlier condemnation.Does Phil Jackson know what to expect from his starting power forward before any game, one San Antonio Express-News reporter wondered?"Absolutely not," he responded.He would see Powe finish two monster dunks early in the fourth quarter with his porous interior defense apologizing instead of clogging the lane. Period.Jackson sees that a few jabs at the refs cannot erase enduring images of a two-part second half. With the Celtics nursing a 12-point lead and the Lakers requiring stops and ball movement to claw back, there was Sasha Vujacic, the pampered Serbian shooter who is far from "the machine" he calls himself, and Vlade "Space Cadet" Radmanovic heaving contested jumpers. The Celtics have in games one and two and the Zen master knows he can only fool people for so long.As he comes to terms with a fact some Laker skeptics believed for months, it pains him to admit his team's predicament. Maybe, he wanted to tell reporters, the Lakers are not as good defensively as people thought Maybe they are not that good.

He had to wonder how the Spurs lost the game, with 12 chances to tie and open looks they normally knock down to do it.He didn't need instant replay to notice Bruce Bowen missing consecutive wide open corner treys, his signature shot, and Tim Duncan passing up opportunities to attack a defenseless Pau Gasol.Perhaps the opening to his Sunday post-game comments was his recognition of the answer: The Spurs could not knock down enough of the open shots to withstand manageable Laker runs. The Spurs did shoot 11 more free throws and benefited from many questionable calls but that was not it. That would have forced the Spurs to foul with less than five seconds left, effectively ending the game. Replays were inconclusive and this columnist thinks it did not hit the rim.Jackson wanted to remind reporters of this officiating lapse because he was mystified about something else.

No, he wasn't talking about the foul that Fisher clearly committed against Brent Barry in the game's closing seconds, but a last second heave that may or may not have hit the rim.If it did, the refs should have given the Lakers a fresh shot clock and the ball. If he did make such a remark, the Celtics reminded him why with a feast of open looks.When the Lakers edged the Spurs 93-91 in game four of the conference finals, despite dominating them on the glass, he opened his post game remarks with a complaint about a missed call against Derek Fisher. The Celtics' players happily stepped in as the persecuted Hebrews seeking safe passage out of Egypt.There was no sand on the court or magnificent pyramids behind the basket but Jackson would understand the metaphor if you told him. In continuing his starring role as the aggravated coach who works the refs long after the final buzzer, Jackson's non rant was just that.He said privately a few weeks ago, and yet the statement became public, that the San Antonio Spurs were the only Western Conference team capable of knocking off his Lakers. His team needs something no referee's whistle can fix and the hall of fame coach is searching for someone who can help his dysfunctional Lake Show.For most of Sunday night, his prized big men re-enacted Moses parting the Red Sea. His veiled shot at the lop-sided officiating was role playing at its best.Jackson does this when he knows his team is in trouble.