NBA FINALS Lakers expect to put up tougher fight

Phil Jackson believes his team grows each game of a series.
LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Other NBA coaches envy Phil Jackson's nine championship rings, and they snipe behind his back about the holier-than-thou attitude of this minister's son.
They also know Jackson makes playoff adjustments faster and better than any coach in recent league history -- and Jackson seems certain to fix the Los Angeles Lakers before Game 2 of the NBA Finals.
The Detroit Pistons took the early lead with an 87-75 victory in Game 1, but they expect the Lakers to come back with a new attitude, a new plan and a new motivational boost after a shocking loss in a series they're heavily favored to win.
"We've got a few things for them," Lakers forward Devean George said. "I'm not going to say what. It's nothing fancy, just a re-emphasis of what we're supposed to be doing. We didn't get here playing the way we did in Game 1. We're going back to the way that got us here."
Coach's strengths
Jackson has more playoff victories and a higher postseason winning percentage than any coach in league history. Sure, he has coached more than his share of the best players of this era, but he also has an unparalleled ability to draw the best out of those players.
He has a deceptively simple problem after Game 1: How can he convince the Lakers to play tough defense, get the ball inside to Shaquille O'Neal and make open jumpers, as they did during their run to the Western Conference championship?
"I was not surprised by [Game 1]," Jackson said. "I wasn't happy with it, and we'd like to have a better effort, but this is a team that grows in their abilities as a series goes on, and as they understand the territory.
"I don't think they played their offense the way that the execution demands it. The defensive end, I didn't think they were aggressive, and that's where they have stepped into a vacuum that they've played in at times during the season."
Jackson's famed motivational skills will be tested as he tries to light one more fire under his turmoil-prone team. During the Lakers' film session Monday, he repeatedly played a television clip from Game 1 in which Detroit coach Larry Brown is overheard saying the Pistons can get any shot they want against the Lakers' lackluster defense.
Brown is in his 23rd season as an NBA coach, so he has picked up a few tricks of his own. With few adjustments to make after the Pistons' superb performance in the opener, he simply cautioned his team against excessive confidence.
"I don't think that was a typical Laker game," Brown said. "I don't know how many times they're going to score 75 points at home in a playoff game, but I thought we played pretty good."
Slumber party over
While the Pistons maintained the defensive intensity they used to win three of the final four games of the Eastern Conference final against Indiana, the Lakers again lost their focus. It happened in the second round when they lost the first two games to the San Antonio Spurs. But after a bit of prodding by Jackson, they awoke to win four straight.
"It has gotten our attention," O'Neal said. "We realize that this team [Detroit] is not going to lay down because the Lakers are in the house. We really have to go out and play. It's not anything they did to throw us out of our game. I think it's more us."