LOS ANGELES -- Phil Jackson sat about 10 rows up from the New York Knicks bench Sunday night as his team played yet another meaningless game against the Los Angeles Lakers. The game was ugly. Except for the back and forth between Kobe Bryant and Carmelo Anthony and his former teammate Sasha Vujacic, it will be forgotten quickly. Neither team is going to the playoffs.
Whatever nostalgia may have been conjured up by seeing Bryant and the coach with whom he won five NBA titles in the same basketball arena one last time before Bryant retires at the end of this season, was just a fleeting emotion.