On Wednesday afternoon, in the same room where two days earlier he had rejoiced over what life had given him back, Phil Jackson frowned and would not hide his sadness over the passing of his friend, Dave DeBusschere.

While the basketball issues pile up on the Lakers, from Shaquille O'Neal's apparent balky knee to their three-games-to-two deficit in the Western Conference semifinals, neither are they free of that which lies outside of the game, DeBusschere dying of a heart attack even as Jackson's heart healed.

So they stood between games, the Lakers on the brink of elimination, the San Antonio Spurs a victory from advancing, before Game 6 of the series tonight at Staples Center. When reporters gathered in the tiny room off the gym in El Segundo, Jackson turned away from the tape of the Game 5 loss at San Antonio the night before, it frozen at the end of three quarters, the comeback yet to come, the shot yet to rim out.