An L.A. Playoff Matchup Would Be Unrivaled

Dear L.A., We love you, signed, David Stern, Commissioner.

A seeding snafu messed up the Western Conference draw. Nevertheless, in the words of my nominee as patron saint of this mess, Wavy Gravy, the Hog Farm commune co-founder who made stage announcements at Woodstock, “There’s always a little bit of heaven in a disaster area.”

Welcome to our own little bit of heaven.

People here were starting to think of the playoffs as a nostalgic memory, such as Shaquille O’Neal, the Rams or the O’Malleys, but it’s a sad snafu that doesn’t benefit somebody.

For the moment, at least, you can see the beneficiaries in the mirror. Yes, Laker and Clipper fans, it could be you!

With the Lakers and Clippers leading their first-round series, the possibility of a second-round city series looms ... which would mean one of the local teams in the Western finals.

The San Antonio Spurs and Dallas Mavericks, who had the best records, are on track to meet in the other second-round Western series, but that’s their problem. After what we’ve been through, we can’t be expected to worry about what the league thinks of Texas.

A week ago the Lakers were thought to be two weeks from extinction and the Clippers were still the Clippers, but a lot has happened since then.

Maybe He Can Renegotiate

Anyone remember when Phil Jackson’s $10-million salary seemed pricey?

If every home playoff game represents a $2-million gate, Jerry Buss just made $4 million of it back this weekend and is guaranteed $2 million more.

Jackson’s return was as improbable as it was a gift. Going on 60, he had won nine titles, wasn’t about to get No. 10 here, had been unceremoniously shown the door and would never have been let back in if Rudy Tomjanovich hadn’t handed the job back, along with $20 million of his guaranteed $30-million salary.

On the other hand, he’s Phil Jackson, so his return didn’t have to make sense to anyone but him.

He didn’t come back for any deep philosophical reason, he just wasn’t ready to retire. He came back here because he was comfortable.

Happily for the Lakers, aside from dating the boss’ daughter, Jackson has a marked preference for people he knows and players he has coached. All Buss had to do was shelve his reasons for letting Jackson go, put up $30 million and he had a Hall of Famer to run their rebuilding project.

I forgot, they don’t call it that. OK, to coach their young, promising team.

Of course, Lamar Odom’s promise hadn’t fully revealed itself in six seasons and Kwame Brown’s had barely been glimpsed in four. Nor would it come bursting forth now, as Jackson found in camp ... and the first five months of the season.

“I’ll tell you when my expectations changed, when we played Sacramento in Las Vegas,” Jackson said recently. “We won an exhibition game against them. I thought we’d have a chance to be a .500 team.”

And before that?

“At that time, beforehand, I thought that we’d be lucky if we won the 32 games they won last season.”

It was 34, which was bad enough. The Lakers had a long-term strategy to restore the greatness. Jackson had a three-year deal, which turned out to be the number of years before their salary cap strategy kicked in. Keeping their priorities in order, they drafted him a high school player.

Jackson made it work. He had always had great players, which was how he won all those titles while leaving open the question of what he was worth by himself, but that’s over.

Of course, there was little prospect of getting out of the first round, until recently.

With a grisly post-Shaq history against the new running, gunning Phoenix Suns, Jackson turned the matchups upside down, problematic as that looked.

If everyone understands you have to pound it inside, everyone has been trying it for two seasons. The Suns had been held under 100 points four times since the All-Star break, not to mention the fact that the Lakers didn’t have much of an inside game.

Jackson started going inside to Luke Walton, his best passer who was also reliable, as opposed to Odom, whose commitment to going inside had wavered, or Brown, who often had been betrayed by his hands, feet or attention span. With Smush Parker posting up Steve Nash, the smaller Suns were under ceaseless attack

Not even the Suns understood how fragile they were. Their players were so enthralled by their season, they weren’t sure if Amare Stoudemire’s attempt to come back was a great idea. Even Nash, whose pick-and-roll game with Stoudemire was the game’s most unstoppable play, noted they’d be “really good if we’re unselfish.”

Without Stoudemire and Kurt Thomas, however, their front line was Boris Diaw, Tim Thomas and Shawn Marion -- basically two small forwards and a big guard. With the Lakers belting them in the midsection on every possession, the court was no longer open and the Suns were no longer free and easy.

Since scoring 39 points in the first quarter of Game 1, they’ve been on a 92-point pace -- down 19 from the 111 they averaged since Jan. 1.

By the way, Jackson has never lost a first-round series. In 15 postseasons, he has lost only six first-round games. If this keeps up, he can write another book -- “The Season After The Last Season?” -- and the Lakers won’t even care.

Maybe It’s a Trend

At first, it just looked like business as usual, with Kobe Bryant lauded as the game’s best player when the Lakers won and derided as selfish, clueless, etc., when they lost.

Before Game 1, ESPN’s “Sports Reporters” agreed he would air it out as he had while averaging 42.5 against the Suns, trying to beat them single-handedly and, of course, foolishly.

Bryant took only 21 shots ... and was pilloried nationwide for his “passivity,” although the Lakers had come from 14 points behind to take the lead in the fourth quarter.

Throwing the ball inside while three Suns eyed him gave the Laker post players room to establish themselves. Being Kobe, he thought he could turn it on in the fourth quarter, but even for Kobe, it doesn’t always happen.

Bryant explained he was just doing what he was told to do by “my big guy.” Everyone assumed he was talking about Jackson, although with Kobe you’re never sure.

Then he played the same way in Games 2 and 3, which the Lakers won, showing more balance than they had since Showtime, so maybe everyone has just learned a really important lesson.

“Kobe’s sticking with the game plan or Raja [Bell] has shut him down, I don’t know which one it is,” Sun Coach Mike D’Antoni said after Game 3, laughing.

“Make sure you tell him that. Maybe he’ll go back to shooting.”

For all of Bryant’s idiosyncrasies, the most common mistake people make is thinking he’s out to do anything but win. The problem is he’s so fearless, he thinks he can do it his way, and he’s so good, sometimes he can.

Of course, with Bryant, it’s always something, as last week when he seemed irritated to learn his plan to change uniform numbers had been discovered.

As poised as he is, as much ground as he has made up, Bryant still takes an attitude about everything, not just referees and Nash. A team publicist had to screen questions, announcing that Bryant won’t talk about his new number until after the playoffs. See if you can contain yourself until then.

The day the PR staff can stop screening him from questions on one thing or another will be a happy one all around. The good times might or might not be back, but for the moment, they’re back.