Jackson confirms Kobe likely to sit

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Lakers guard Kobe Bryant wore sneakers instead of flip flops at the team's shoot-around Thursday, but that doesn't mean he'll be playing the Celtics tonight.

When asked if there was any chance that the Lakers' 12-time All-Star would play with his strained tendon and muscles in his left leg and sprained ligament in his left ankle, Lakers coach Phil Jackson said, "not that I know of."

Bryant helped the team walk through the sets it would use against Boston and "talked a lot," but didn't shoot, according to Jackson.

Jackson was asked about Cleveland's acquisition of Antawn Jamison and said, "I don't care about that," somewhat facetiously, instead taking the time to campaign for Dennis Rodman for the Hall of Fame.

"The only comment I want to make is the [Hall of Fame] selection," Jackson said. "I'm very upset that the [Hall of Fame] people didn't include Dennis Rodman in that group. It's a real tragedy, a shame. It's a guy that led the league in rebounding seven years in a row and was Defensive Player of the Year two or three times and doesn't get nominated? ...

"He's famous, we know that. It's not about being famous. It must be about something else because his basketball skills are certainly there and every team he played on competed and competed at a very high quality."

Rodman averaged 7.3 points and 13.1 rebounds in 14 NBA seasons. He won five championships as a member of the Chicago Bulls and Detroit Pistons, was a two-time All-Star, two-time Defensive Player of the Year and is 22nd all-time in total rebounds for a career.

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Dave McMenamin

ESPNLosAngeles.com

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Dave McMenamin spent five seasons as a staff writer for NBA.com in New York and Los Angeles before joining ESPNLosAngeles.com to cover the Lakers and the NBA.