LOS ANGELES — Phil Jackson spent much of his pregame gathering with reporters just now fielding questions about his famous coaching tactics of splicing movies into game film and giving players books. He said he needs to hit Barnes & Noble in the next two days to prepare for the coming nine-game trip.

Jackson said his favorite sports movies were “Slap Shot” in hockey and “Field of Dreams” in baseball; “Slap Shot” has fallen off my personal top 100 list over the years, but “Field of Dreams” held the No. 1 spot for a long, long time.. Also on my list (at No. 93) is the only basketball movie that Jackson said was “worth its weight” as legitimate in its on-court sequences: “Hoosiers.” I have “Hoop Dreams” at No. 41, though.

Zach Thomas and Larry Izzo asked me to bring the list into the Dolphins’ locker room years ago when I was at The Miami Herald, and they just killed me for having a couple of musicals on there. And they didn’t get — as has always been the case with most of my buddies — why I don’t put “The Godfather” movies on some pedestal.

Anyway, getting back to the original point, Jackson also said one of the best movie splices he did came back in his Chicago days (when Jackson had to do the tedious editing labor himself; in L.A., Jackson has had video coordinators run with his suggestions): “Pulp Fiction.” The part where they have to clean up the car and Harvey Kietel’s “The Wolf” character offers the reminder not to get complacent: “Let’s not start …”

Jackson’s most famous usage in his Lakers tenure was in 2000 using “American History X” before facing the Sacramento Kings (and Rick Adelman alluded to as Adolf Hitler and Jason Williams resembling Edward Norton’s character with a shaved head). My personal favorite was in the second championship run in 2001 with “Gladiator,” which fit right in for me to build a whole story around.

If you’re in the mood for a trip down memory lane, here’s the text from that story as the Lakers were en route to repeating as champs …

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By KEVIN DING

The Orange County Register

PORTLAND, Ore.

It’s apropos that “Gladiator,” the movie that Phil Jackson spliced into game film to inspire the Lakers for this first-round series, won Best Picture.

The Lakers have become the NBA’s Best Team.

“I don’t know if there is anybody who has an opportunity to really beat them,” Portland coach Mike Dunleavy said.

The Lakers ripped through Dunleavy’s fragmented Trail Blazers, 99-86, on Sunday to finish a rousing three-game sweep. The Lakers will open the second round Sunday against Phoenix or Sacramento at Staples Center.

But they can spend the week savoring this victory, which was most impressive in that it reflected everything that Jackson tried to convey through the “Gladiator” clips. It was as if the words from the film were resonating in the players’ heads.

“What we do in life echoes in eternity.”

It could be said that no one remembers first-round playoff series — except that people have been frequently reciting the memory that the Lakers hadn’t had a postseason sweep since 1991.

“Everyone was focusing on closing this series today,” Lakers guard Brian Shaw said afterward. “Phil was keeping us focused.”

Jackson had a rare team meeting 30 minutes before tip-off to reiterate to the players the importance of a sweep – not just for the record books, but for their sense of growth.

The victory changed their history.

“We’re showing maturity this year by getting the sweep,” Kobe Bryant said. “It sends a message to the rest of the league that we are for real.”

Given that last season’s NBA champs couldn’t record a sweep, this qualifies as the Lakers’ first significant accomplishment of this post-championship season.

“This was a statement to start the playoffs with a sweep,” Derek Fisher said. “This shows a lot of growth for our team over last year, when (Portland) took us to seven games.”

“Ultimately, we’re all dead men. … But we can decide how we meet that end in order that we are remembered as men.”

A half-hour before Jackson’s team meeting, Bryant was already sure that this was the end for the Blazers.

Hearing Portland’s Scottie Pippen speak confidently in a pre-game NBC interview played on the Lakers’ locker-room TV, Bryant got up and muttered: “You’re (expletive) crazy, man. Today’s your last day of work.”

Bryant backed up his declaration – not just with his 22 points, but with his personal playoff-high nine assists. Bryant already had seven assists in each of the first two games.

Pippen, meanwhile, was a wreck: 3-for-13 shooting (seven points), three rebounds, one assist, five fouls, three turnovers.

Ending the season even more meekly was Blazers star Rasheed Wallace (4-for-19, nine points). Wallace missed must-have shots at the end of third quarter and the start of fourth, undermining any comeback hopes. A seven-point deficit swelled to 13 in less than three minutes.

“Win the crowd, and you will win your freedom.”

At the start of the fourth quarter, the Rose Garden crowd still had hope for the Blazers, as heard in their “Beat L.A.!” chant.

With 5:30 to play and the Lakers up by 13, the boos had begun, even in this one-team town. By 3:19, fans were filing for the exits.

At 2:28, a heckler behind the Lakers’ bench was ejected from the mostly silent arena. Lakers veterans Ron Harper, Horace Grant, Rick Fox and Shaw stood and watched from the floor, laughing and clapping.

By then, the signs had already gone up: “Season tickets for sale; make an offer!” and “Time to throw in the towel on ‘Sheed!”

With 1:31 to go, Bryant made a fancy drop-off pass for Shaquille O’Neal to throw down on Portland’s Arvydas Sabonis. The crowd cheered.

“Do you understand? If we stay together, we survive.”

Jackson’s ultimate message for the series was the need to stay united, especially with regard to Bryant and O’Neal. They had to play team ball.

Bryant was so unselfish Sunday that Jackson again chided him for passing up open shots. O’Neal did not force his offense in the face of a defense focused absolutely on him, and he still led the team with 25 points and 15 rebounds.

“That just helps everyone’s confidence when we know that Shaq’s willing to kick the ball out and Kobe’s willing to kick the ball out to the open guy,” Fisher said. “Everyone feels good about their game, and that’s a big reason why we’re playing so much better now.”

The Lakers played team offense with 25 assists to Portland’s 13. The defense came together and permitted just 14 fourth-quarter points.

The Lakers stayed together; the Lakers survived.

“If you keep preaching something,” O’Neal said, “it’ll get around.”

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