Orange County Register

LOS ANGELES — When I brought up Phil Jackson’s four-year-old reference to Kwame Brown being a “pussycat” for taking too long to come back from a strained right hamstring, I had no idea Jackson would intensify his needling of Pau Gasol for his strained right hamstring in the final moments before Gasol returns to action.

Jackson smilingly asked a reporter Tuesday night inquiring about Gasol possibly being gun-shy in his return to action by countering with a question whether he was being asked if Gasol is “a hypochondriac” and “might be a baby.”

In fact, Gasol’s layoff is in its final stages. As expected, he felt good Tuesday after his team workout Monday and is set to practice fully with the team Wednesday before facing Chicago on Thursday night. Jackson stayed in character at the team’s shootaround Tuesday, asking Gasol if he could play Tuesday night against Detroit.

Gasol told Jackson he wasn’t ready yet. So Jackson joked further with reporters about Gasol’s Monday night appearance on “CSI: Miami,” which was filmed just before training camp began.

“I think he got injured on “CSI” and he’s just not telling us the truth, Jackson kidded.

Jackson did watch the episode — he had never seen the show — and told Gasol about his acting: “Keep your night job.”

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