Stress test

Hopefully Phil Jackson hasn't returned too soon

Well, Game 5 between the Lakers and Spurs Tuesday night wasn't hard on the heart, was it?

Look, I'm no doctor -- not the first time you've heard that -- but it seems to me the Lakers' Phil Jackson took an unnecessary risk by coming back to coach that contest. I'm aware Jackson was given a clean bill of health after undergoing an angioplasty to unclog an artery on Saturday. I know there were added precautions taken, such as Jackson's personal physician being on the trip, stationing an extra ambulance in the SBC Center parking lot, and the coach's own promise that he would leave the bench if he felt any symptoms. (As if he would really do that.) But I still think Jackson should've stayed home.

The Zen Master was only about 48 hours removed from his heart procedure when he climbed on the Lakers' charter flight to San Antonio on Monday and about 72 hours removed when his team walked out to center court for that pivotal fifth game. That is not enough recovery time, especially for someone planning to do something as stress-inducing as coach a high-stakes basketball game. And I'm not even going to make the obvious joke that watching his team fall behind by 25 points, battle back, and then lose on an in-and-out 3-point shot was enough to give any man a heart attack.

When should Jackson have returned? How do I know? Remember, I told you what I'm not. But waiting until Thursday night's Game 6 in Los Angeles would've seemed safer to me.

Whether or not the Lakers can overcome a 3-2 deficit against San Antonio, then defeat Dallas or Sacramento in the Western final, then go on to win their fourth straight championship -- and right now that seems like a long and winding road, though L.A. has successfully traveled it before -- this season has been an unbelievably eventful one for Jackson. (As you may recall, he also missed three games because of kidney stones earlier in the season.)

A few days after Christmas I sat with Jackson in his hotel room in Denver as he talked about his team and I saw him searching for ways to turn around a season which to that point had been an absolute nightmare. Shaquille O'Neal was angry and frustrated because he was playing at about 60 percent efficiency after coming back from toe surgery. Kobe Bryant was angry and frustrated because his efforts to lift his team -- sometimes Herculean, sometimes overextended -- weren't working. The Lakers' supporting cast was angry and frustrated because it was being blamed, often times by Bryant, for L.A.'s poor record. And Jackson was angry and frustrated because, as both a master strategist and master psychologist, he couldn't figure out how to remedy the situation.

With Jackson, though, the frustration was hidden, a major reason he's a great coach. He doesn't overreact. He doesn't snap at every piece of bait that comes floating by him. His players see his composure and emulate it. And, sure enough, he found a way to bring L.A. back to life -- Shaq's and Kobe's brilliance having a lot to do with it, of course.

But keeping things to yourself, sucking it up when insanity is all around you, weaving a spell of serenity when your insides are roiling -- all of that can induce stress. And what was going on inside of Jackson on Tuesday night in San Antonio? I winced when I saw him debating something with referee Bob Delaney in the middle of the Lakers' fourth-quarter comeback and again a few minutes later after Danny Crawford's non-call on a Bryant 3-point shot (which was the right call, in my opinion). And, well, watching Robert Horry's potential game-winning 3-pointer go in and out can't do much for the old ticker, either.

Look, I'm just glad everything turned out all right for Jackson. I refer not to the gut-churning result of the game (a 96-94 Lakers loss) but to the fact that he got through it without medical incident. But during Game 6 Thursday night and (probably) Game 7 Saturday, I'll still be thinking more about Jackson the man than Jackson the coach.

Air we go again

I didn't think I'd be writing this again. I really didn't.

But I think Michael Jordan will come back to play. Again.

I don't know this for a fact, but I know Jordan and another comeback makes sense for three reasons: