Lakers Coach Phil Jackson on New Orleans Hornets

Lakers guard Kobe Bryant is 15 points shy of surpassing Oscar Robertson for ninth place on the NBA's all time scoring list. With Bryant currently with 26,695 points, Lakers Coach Phil Jackson believes Bryant has extra motivation to surpass Michael Jordan, who's third on the list with 32,292 points. "I would imagine that's one that's sitting out there," Jackson said. He also predicted Bryant will surpass Shaquille O'Neal, who's currently fifth on the list with 28,504 points. 

Bryant told the New York Post's Peter Vecsey that "I have very little cartilage under my right knee cap, it’s almost bone on bone.” But Jackson said Bryant "manages it very well." Jackson said it's been an issue since last season and "we monitored it during the playoffs."

Jackson said Bryant's arthroscopic surgery on his right knee this summer helped as has limited practice, including walk-through defensive drills. Bryant often sits out from conditioning drills, while working on shooting drills. "He's stronger and can adjust to a lot he has to deal with," Jackson said of Bryant. Jackson said John Paxson and Bill Cartwright were limited with the Bulls as did Ron Harper with the Bulls and Lakers. Jackson said Michael Jordan always practiced.

Jackson said he has addressed the team about Bryant not practicing. He said he and Bryant talked three years ago about limiting his practice time. "Practices are going to have to be monitored and you and I are going to have reach an agreement on this," Jackson recalled telling Bryant. "I'm going to give you the liberty to choose how you want to practice so we can do this the right away. It's been going on for a while." Jackson said Bryant and Derek Fisher won't practice after back-to-backs or after a significant chunk of games, but will if the team has days off.

Lakers forward Lamar Odom expressed uncertainty on how he'll play through his sore left shoulder, but he will play. Said Odom: "Hopefully I can help a little bit."

He said he mostly went to sleep last night sleeping up.

--Odom on how he played through a sprained left shoulder lasts season from mid-February through the playoffs: "My toughness. Just being tough. Being a gladiator."

Lakers backup center Theo Ratliff said he hasn't been given a timetable on when he will return. He said he's ridden the bike and has occasionally run up and down the court.

--Mark Medina

Twitter.com/latmedina

E-mail the Lakers blog at mgmedin@gmail.com

In a memo to the staff, Times Editor Russ Stanton announced an expansion of health and wellness coverage, beginning with this Sunday's paper:

Our outstanding Health section is expanding its reach beginning this Sunday with two new pages in the A section devoted to Health & Wellness.

Readers will find additional coverage of nutrition, psychology, fitness and other issues. There also will be Q&As with experts on sports medicine, aging, children’s health and insurance, along with reports on the latest medical products and therapies. As part of this expanded effort, we are renaming the Monday section Health & Wellness.

Kudos to Health Editor Rosie Mestel and her team for broadening our coverage of a topic that is of high interest to our readers.

--Mark Medina

Twitter.com/latmedina

E-mail the Lakers blog at mgmedin@gmail.com

Lakers 101, Hornets 97 (final)

In 14-plus NBA seasons, Kobe Bryant has 26,720 points, putting him in ninth place on the league's all-time scoring list.

Bryant scored 25 points Friday night in helping the Lakers defeat the Hornets, 101-97, at Staples Center.

Bryant had plenty of help, as five Lakers scored in double figures.

Pau Gasol had 21 points, including a free throw that clinched it with 2.6 seconds left, giving the Lakers a 101-97 lead. Gasol also had 13 rebounds and seven assists.

Andrew Bynum 17 points, Lamar Odom 17 points and 13 rebounds and Ron Artest 12 points.

Lakers 80, Hornets 71 (end of third quarter)

During a third quarter in which Kobe Bryant moved up the NBA's all-time scoring chart, the bad news came earlier when it was announced that forward Matt Barnes had suffered a sprained right knee in the second quarter of Friday night's game and wouldn't return.

Bryant entered the game needing 15 points to pass Oscar Robertson for ninth on the league's all-time scoring list.

Bryant scored his 17th point on a hanging runner in the lane over former teammate Trevor Ariza late in the third.

Bryant had 19 points by the end of the third quarter, giving him 26,714 points.

Lakers pubic relations director John Black said Barnes will get an MRI exam on his knee Saturday.

With Barnes out, starter Ron Artest scored eight points in the third quarter, playing almost 10 minutes.

RELATED:

Lakers vs. Hornets photos

Celebrities courtside at Staples Center

Lakers 51, Hornets 46 (end of first half)

By halftime, the Lakers were shooting 60.6% from the field.

Kobe Bryant led the Lakers with 14 points on five-for-seven shooting.

Pau Gasol had 11 points on four-for-four shooting, andAndrew Bynum had 10 points at the half.

Lakers 27, Hornets 24 (end of first quarter)

Pau Gasol was the inside man for the Lakers in the first quarter, having his way against the smaller New Orleans Hornets.

Gasol scored 11 points on four-for-four shooting. He also had five rebounds and two assists.

The Lakers seemingly had an easy time against the Hornets, shooting 71.4% from the field.

After giving former Lakers teammate DJ Mbenga, a backup center for the Hornets, his championship ring, Kobe Bryant came out and hit a three-pointer to start the game.

From that point, the Hornets mixed in some zone defense with their man-to-man coverage.

Pregame

Lakers forward Lamar Odom, who has a sore left shoulder, said he would play Friday night against the New Orleans Hornets at Staples Center.

"I'll warm it up a little bit," Odom said. "I'll just take my time, let the game come to me."

Odom was injured during the fourth quarter of Wednesday night's game at Phoenix.

Lakers Coach Phil Jackson, whose team defeated the Hornets last week in New Orleans, said the idea is for the Lakers to go inside to 7-footers Andrew Bynum and Pau Gasol.

 -- Broderick Turner

Photo: Lakers guard Kobe Bryant passes to a teammate after drawing the Hornets defense to him in the lane Friday night. Credit: Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times

Click here to download TV listings for the week of Jan. 9 - 15 in PDF format

TV listings for the week of Jan. 9 in PDF format (alternate link)

Weekly TV Listings can also be found at: www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/tv

This week's TV Movies

LET’S GET KRAKEN! “Avatar’s” Sam Worthington battles the mythological monster in the effects-laden 2010 remake “Clash of the Titans” at 8 p.m. on HBO. 

SERIES

Celebrity Ghost Stories: This spooky-story series ends its season (6, 8 and 10 p.m. Biography). 

The Bachelor: ABC encores the season premiere of the latest edition of the romance-and-reality series (9 p.m. ABC). 

Austin City Limits: Monsters of Folk, the alt-rock supergroup featuring M. Ward, My Morning Jacket’s Jim James and Bright Eyes’ Connor Oberst and Mike Mogas, performs in this new installment (9 p.m. KLCS). 

Independent Lens: An all-male synchronized-swimming team is featured on a new installment of the documentary series (11 p.m. KLCS). 

Saturday Night Live: Jim Carrey hosts, with musical guests the Black Keys (11:29 p.m. NBC). 

MOVIES

Change of Plans: “American Idol’s” Brooke White stars in this made-for-TV melodrama (8 p.m. Fox). 

True Grit: Oscar winner John Wayne, Kim Darby and Glenn Campbell star in the original 1969 version of this recently-remade western (8 p.m. AMC).

Perfectly Prudence: Jane Seymour reunites with “Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman” costar Joe Lando in this made-for-cable follow-up to 2008’s “Dear Prudence” (9 and 11 p.m. Hallmark). 

Death at a Funeral: Chris Rock and Martin Lawrence star in this so-so 2010 remake of director Frank Oz’s superior 2007 comedy (9 p.m. Starz). 

Cop Out: Bruce Willis and “30 Rock’s” Tracy Morgan star in director Kevin Smith’s 2010 action-comedy (10 p.m. Cinemax). 

Football: The Super Bowl champion Saints meet the Seahawks in the NFC Wild Card Game (1:30 p.m. NBC) and the Jets face the Colts in the AFC Wild Card matchup (5 p.m. NBC). 

Basketball: The Celtics battle the Bulls (5 p.m. WGN America). 
 

Hockey: The Kings welcome the Blue Jackets (7:30 p.m. FSN).  

Photo: Warner Bros.  

The TCA press tour panel for “Game of Thrones” was one of the most eagerly anticipated on a day full of interesting sessions.  HBO finally announced a launch date for the series -- April 17 -– which is based on the “Song of Ice and Fire” fantasy saga written by George R.R. Martin. And they brought three of the vast ensemble cast (Sean Bean, Emilia Clarke and Peter Dinklage), the author and the showrunners on stage to discuss the show.

Martin cut a quirky figure onstage with his puffy white beard, cap and suspenders as he pondered why there’s been such fervent excitement about the series. Noting diplomatically that “fantasy and science fiction fans are very intense,” Martin also blamed TV.

“There’s relatively little out there” for science fiction fans, he said. Television is full of legal shows and comedies, not to mention all those real housewives, Martin said. “Fantasy has been largely restricted to books for a long time,” and many readers are eager to see the genre on the small screen, he said.

David Benioff, who adapted the series from the books and executive produces along with longtime pal D.B. Weiss, clearly felt Martin was being too modest about his work. He argued that “Thrones” “is not just an epic battle of good and evil” but features “characters of enormous complexity” in its tale of power struggles and family drama set in a icy, violent kingdom. “To come across something that treats [the genre] with as much sensitivity and intelligence as George does” incites passion in fans, Benioff said.

Sean Bean, who plays the lordly Eddard Stark, seemed slightly nervous about the pressure on him to live up to readers’ fantasies -– though you’d think he’d be used to it after starring in the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy. Bean drew comparisons between the two sagas, saying that despite its TV-sized budget, the production values on "Game of Thrones" were “unlike anything I’ve seen, even on ‘Lord of the Rings' … I was impressed by the detail, the sheer size of it, the craftsmanship … everything was so detailed, so fast. It was like working on a big feature film every week.”

Martin only wrote one script of the 10 in the series’ first season, mostly because he said he needed to focus on finishing the fifth book in the saga. “The books are 1,500 pages long and I have a mob outside my house with pitchforks…” waiting for the next novel to emerge. [Updated 10 a.m. Jan. 8: An earlier version of this post mistakenly referred to Martin's book-in-progress as the 6th book in the series.] 

So far “Game of Thrones” just has a one-season commitment, but everyone on stage seemed hopeful there would be more. Except maybe Martin, who has his own reason to be ambivalent: “The scary thing is if these guys catch up with me!”

Complete coverage of TCA Press Tour 2011

George R.R. Martin responds to news of HBO's pickup

With 'Game of Thrones,' HBO is playing for another 'True Blood'

George R.R. Martin fans already in lust with 'Game of Thrones'

-- Joy Press

twitter.com/joypress

Photo: Emilia Clarke, Sean Bean and Peter Dinklage of "Game of Thrones" at the TCA panel. Credit: Frederick M. Brown / Getty Images.

An Ohio zoo is trying to round up runaway prairie dogs and is asking its neighbors for help.

The Columbus Zoo and Aquarium said Friday that 11 of the critters had wriggled their way out of temporary quarters and so far only four have been recovered.

Assistant Curator Jeremy Carpenter says in a statement that there's no reason to believe the animals have left zoo property. But he says nearby residents are being asked to watch for prairie dogs, just in case.

The zoo says the animals are not dangerous.

They were among a group of 20 prairie dogs that arrived from another zoo in November. The newcomers were kept in quarantine, then moved into the temporary housing two weeks ago. They were to be introduced into the zoo's regular prairie dog exhibit in the spring.

RELATED ZOO STORIES:

• Whew! That's a relief: Escaped hippo returns home to Montenegro zoo

• Sumatran orangutan Karta escapes her enclosure at Australia's Adelaide Zoo

-- Associated Press

Photo: One of the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium's prairie dogs in an undated photo. Credit: Associated Press

The Kennedys may have no one left serving on Capitol Hill, but the family still has enough clout to keep a miniseries about their political dynasty from airing in the United States.

In a statement, the History Channel said it has decided not air "The Kennedys," an eight-part miniseries about the family that starred Greg Kinnear as President John F. Kennedy, Katie Holmes as his wife Jacqueline "Jackie" Kennedy and Barry Pepper as his brother Bobby Kennedy. 

"While the film is produced and acted with the highest quality, after viewing the final product in its totality, we have concluded this dramatic interpretation is not a fit for the History brand," the network said in a statement. 

The History Channel had not set a date for the miniseries to air. It was expected to run later this spring, and is scheduled to premiere in March in Canada.

The concern from both the Kennedy family and their associates about this miniseries from Joel Surnow, a creator of the Fox action show "24," was no secret. Heavy lobbying by the family and friends of the family played a key role in getting the project yanked, people close to the situation said.

People close to the Kennedys got their hands on an early script for the program and immediately blasted it. The late Theodore Sorensen, a senior advisor to President Kennedy, called the draft he saw a "one-sided right-wing script" that was "vindictive" and "malicious" in a short film about the project made by Robert Greenwald, a documentary filmmaker.  Some people even managed to see the first few episodes of the completed program.

Caroline Kennedy, the daughter of the late president, also made an effort to get the project stopped in its tracks. She lobbied Anne Sweeney, a top television executive at Walt Disney Co., one of the three companies that co-owns History Channel. The other two companies that own the network are NBC Universal and Hearst Corp.

Kennedy has ties to both Sweeney and Disney. She has a book deal with Disney's publishing unit Hyperion, which is set to publish a book of previously unreleased interviews with the late Jacqueline Kennedy this fall. Caroline Kennedy is to edit and write the introduction for the book, and is likely to help promote it.

On a more personal level, Sweeney is on the board of the Special Olympics, which was founded by Eunice Kennedy Shriver, the president's sister.

Maria Shriver, the daughter of Eunice Kennedy Shriver, also has connections to NBC Universal, having had a long relationship with the company as a reporter and anchor for NBC News.

Although History Channel has passed on the project, it will air elsewhere around the world and could find a new home in the United States should another television outlet strike a deal with the producers, Aslyum Entertainment and Muse Entertainment.

In a statement, the two companies said, "We are proud of the work all of our talent put into the making of The Kennedys and the painstaking efforts that went into creating a drama that is compelling while rich in historic detail. Although we regret this does not fit into the History Channel’s plans, we are confident that television viewers in the United States will join viewers from around the world in having an opportunity to watch this series in the near future."

History Channel also has sister networks it could run the series on including Lifetime and Lifetime Movie Network. However, it seems that the parent companies of all those channels are looking to move on despite all the money invested in the project.

This is not the first time a political family was able to persuade a network to not run a program. Several years ago, the Reagan family and friends of the former president were instrumental in getting CBS to not carry its movie about his life. It did eventually run on Showtime, the pay cable channel that is in far fewer homes.

-- Joe Flint

Left wing Marco Sturm seems to have become the whipping boy for Kings Coach Terry Murray after two days of scathing comments from a coach who rarely singles anyone out for public chiding.

Before Thursday’s morning skate, Murray said he had talked to Sturm to criticize the player’s work ethic. He wasn’t any more complimentary after practice Friday, even though Sturm earned an assist Thursday with a shot that was rebounded for a goal by Kyle Clifford.

Murray repeated that Sturm is "still in training camp mode" after undergoing surgery on the medial collateral and anterior cruciate ligaments of his right knee last May and indicated he’s not happy with Sturm’s play. Considering that General Manager Dean Lombardi likes Sturm -- Lombardi drafted Sturm into the NHL as the San Jose Sharks’ general manager and pursued him a second time this season after medical concerns led the Kings’ doctors to be cautious on the first go-round -- it could become a point of contention between a general manager and a coach who are otherwise close.

"I understand it and I have that compassion that he has to go through it during the games," Murray said of Sturm’s readjustment to the pace and rigors of the NHL. "That he’s got to get his game in order and he’s coming to a new team, moving, very unsettled with everything that’s going on. Hotel, place to live -- it’s hard. Very difficult. No matter how long you’ve been in the league you’ve just got to go through those situations and find a way to get your game in order and settle it in.

"I’m dealing with it. Not comfortably but I’m going to keep pushing and keep talking and going to have to get his game back to the level of play that he knows he can play at. And quite honestly I’m waiting to see what that level is myself. I don’t know him well enough over the years to have put him under the microscope and say, 'This is exactly what I’m going to get every shift, what I need, and this is the expectation.' So I’m waiting for him to show me. But I certainly have to see that high level of intensity and work every shift."

True, Sturm hasn’t exactly set the Kings’ world on fire since he was acquired from Boston. He has two goals and four points in nine games playing with an ever-changing array of linemates.

But is it realistic to expect Sturm, a seven-time 20-goal scorer, to have regained that form when he’s barely eight months removed from such extensive surgery?

Murray thinks it is, and went back to his days as coach of the Florida Panthers to back up his argument.

"It’s not unreasonable. I’ve had players come through this thing." he said. "I’ve had Pavel Bure went through the second operation -- the same kind of operation on the same leg -- and he’s back, right on top of his game and scored 57 goals for me that year [actually 58 in 1999-2000].

"And so it’s very demanding. You’ve got to really push hard and go through a lot of pain on the off-ice part of things to get yourself ready to get on the ice and get going. But once you get on the ice you’ve got to get to that hard work every time, every shift and that’s what I need from Marco. I think there’s times out there that there’s a skill element to his game and he wants to play that kind of a game but also we need now to add in that competitive side of it."

That applies to more than a few of his teammates, too.

Murray put Sturm with center Jarret Stoll and right wing Wayne Simmonds in practice Friday and likely will keep that trio together Saturday against Columbus, so he will have another chance to escape the doghouse.

--Helene Elliott

Photo: Kings winger Marco Sturm tries to beat Nashville's Shane O'Brien to the puck during the second period of their game Thursday night at Staples Center. Credit: Harry How / Getty Images

HBO kicked off its winter press tour activities with two panel discussions that involved two very different satellite appearances.

First was Academy Award-winning actress Kate Winslet, the star of the network's five-part miniseries "Mildred Pierce," which premieres March 27. That panel also included costars Guy Pearce and Evan Rachel Wood, who appeared in person, along with director-writer Todd Haynes.

The miniseries is based on the novel of the same title written by James M. Cain in 1941 and centers on a single mother who struggles to raise and win her daughter's love in the Great Depression in Los Angeles. Wood plays Winslet's daughter.

Winslet, who said TV "is so much harder" than filmmaking, said she only watched the first five minutes of the original Oscar-winning movie, which starred Joan Crawford in Winslet's role. The miniseries takes a different approach than did the book or movie.

"When you're playing Mildred Pierce and you know that someone utterly extraordinary has played that role before, it's a fine line. What do you do?" Winslet said. "I knew that I wouldn't be able to un-see it, and I also knew that I had to honor the book. I had to be very true to the Mildred Pierce that is in that brilliant novel. She meant something to me within the context of the way that Todd had scripted this. And so what I was working for with Todd was just something different. Not cleverer or better, just simply a different character. And I knew that I had to hang on to my instincts about who she meant to us."

For his part, Pee-wee Herman hung on to Pee-wee Herman. Appearing via satellite from New York in character, Pee-wee Herman was promoting his HBO special, "The Pee-wee Herman Show on Broadway." Shot over two days without an audience, the presentation of the hit Broadway show will premiere in March.

During the panel session, Pee-Wee mugged and winked, and made funny faces.

"The new show is really inspired 100% by the old show," Pee-wee said. "What happened in between is I did the stage show originally at the Roxy Theater, which is where we filmed it originally for HBO ... and from there I had a CBS television series that was greatly inspired by that stage production. So when I went to re-write the show, I added all the characters from the CBS show.

"But the plot is the same," he continued. "The 'New York Times' said it was thin on plot and they were right. But plot is not everything it's cracked up to be."

[Updated at 6:40 p.m.: An earlier version of this post contained a video of Pee-wee Herman during the session. The Times has removed the video because recording the session is in violation of the rules set by the TCA.]

-- Maria Elena Fernandez
twitter.com/writerchica

Photo: (top) Kate Winslet as "Mildred Pierce." Credit: Andrew D. Schwartz / HBO

Photo: (bottom) Pee-wee Herman. Credit: Chris McPherson / HBO