SEATTLE - With only a mild limp, Phil Jackson coached his first road game since right hip surgery on Sunday night when the Los Angeles Lakers played in Seattle.
“It’s out of the comfort zone, but it’s good,” Jackson said.
The 61-year-old Jackson had right hip replacement surgery on Oct. 3, and turned over coaching duties during training camp and the preseason to assistant Kurt Rambis. Jackson attended practices, but did not travel.
Jackson was on the bench for the Lakers’ opener against Phoenix, but did not travel the next night to Golden State. He intends to coach both ends of the Lakers’ back-to-back next Tuesday at home against Minnesota and Wednesday at Portland.
The biggest improvement for Jackson is the constant discomfort that is now gone. He is able to sleep comfortably at night and his rehabilitation includes exercises a couple of times a day and walking.
“I’m feeling better about moving around, getting up and down,” Jackson said. “Right now I don’t have the strength to do it, but I’ll be there soon.”
Kobe Bryant hit a baseline jump shot with 4.2 seconds left and the Los Angeles Lakers wrapped up a six-game road trip by holding on to beat the Raptors 94-92 on Sunday, their eighth victory in nine meetings with Toronto
ProBasketballTalk tweets |
|
Source: Twitter. For more, follow @basketballtalk. |
Video: NBA from NBC Sports |
Knicks, Lin still streaking Knicks coach Mike D'Antoni and point guard Jeremy Lin discuss the team and Lin's recent success. |
Slideshow |
more photos |
Special feature |
Who will be MVP? Interactive: Rank each player on a scale of 0 to 10 (10 = best player, 0 = barely worthy of consideration). NBCSports.com |
Slideshow |
more photos |