There's never an ideal occasion to lose a starter to injury, but Los Angeles Lakers coach Phil Jackson admitted the timing of Ron Artest's absence is especially poor.
What already would have been a taxing five-day stretch against four mostly up-tempo teams has become even more strenuous with Artest sidelined.
Kobe Bryant, Pau Gasol and Lamar Odom played 50-plus minutes each in Saturday's double overtime victory in Sacramento and Derek Fisher logged 40, so Jackson substituted liberally in Monday night's loss at Phoenix to keep his team fresh for Tuesday night's matchup with run-and-gun Golden State.
Reserves Sasha Vujacic, Adam Morrison and Josh Powell each logged a few early minutes to ease the burden on the regulars, while D.J. Mbenga checked in for a foul-plagued Andrew Bynum late in the first half. The reserves finished the game once Phoenix extended its lead to 19 in the fourth quarter, ensuring no Laker would play more than 36 minutes.
Artest's injury "changes our bench entirely. It changes how we manage the game," said Jackson, who added that he would have substituted even more except he wanted to give his team every chance to win the first half of a back-to-back.
It's still uncertain whether the Lakers will have Artest back against the Warriors, though the team remains hopeful the symptoms from his concussion will have dissipated. Artest visited a neurologist in Los Angeles again on Monday but did not make the trip to Phoenix as a result of dizziness.
Artest already missed Saturday's game in Sacramento because of injuries sustained when he fell down a flight of stairs at his home while carrying boxes on Christmas night. Asked whether he had talked to Artest about the episode, Jackson said he'd wait until returning home.
"I usually need a translator when I speak to Ron on the phone," he joked.
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