The flip side of the equation never was mentioned when Phil Jackson set the bar in late September for the Lakers of winning 44 or 45 games and returning to the playoffs after a season away.
That would be the 38 or 37 losses Jackson will have to suffer through -- some uglier than others -- a total he never before has had to accept in his career of coaching championship-ready teams.
The first of those losses came against the Phoenix Suns, 122-112, in Thursday night's home opener, a game in which Kobe Bryant totaled 39 points and the defending Pacific Division champions totaled even more.
That was Jackson's first regular-season game back at Staples Center after a year away was almost forgotten by the end.
Even without All-Star Amare Stoudemire, the Suns picked apart the Lakers. The Suns had seven players finish in double figures while reigning league MVP Steve Nash (12 points, 17 assists) orchestrated the show.
"We got caught up probably playing their game a little bit," Lamar Odom said. "One of my old coaches used the term you have to sit on a team like this defensively."
One night after they opened with a thrilling 99-97 overtime victory in Denver, the Lakers came crashing back to Earth. The Suns nearly blew a 17-point lead for the second consecutive game but outgunned the Lakers at every critical juncture.
The Lakers (1-1) afterward were left talking about defense. They gave up 120 points or more three times during last season's disastrous finish, but the 122 the Suns scored Thursday was relatively new territory for a Jackson team.
During his previous five years as Lakers coach, Jackson's teams gave up 120 points or more only five times. The last time it happened in a 48-minute game was Jan. 11, 2002, when the Lakers lost 120-102 to Minnesota.
But that was before Jackson inherited a team that gave up 101.7 points on average last season, 27th in the NBA.
The Lakers were done in Thursday night by a hail of Shawn Marion (30 points, 11 rebounds) dunks and Kurt Thomas pick-and-roll baskets and Eddie House jumpers and on and on.
"They were all in their comfort zones, they were shooting in spots that they practice in everyday," Devean George said. "I'm not concerned about our defense. It's just a matter of communication. We weren't really talking with each other."
The Suns scored only 90 points in regulation of their Tuesday opener against Dallas. But they totaled 66 points in the first half against the Lakers, with 10 different players scoring and Nash dishing out 12 assists.
"They're obviously a better team right now than we are," Jackson said of the Suns, who won 62 games last season and will play without Stoudemire (knee surgery) until February at the earliest.
The Lakers got as close as 115-112 with 2:10 left as Bryant found Laron Profit for a basket underneath. But James Jones, one of the Suns' new additions, knocked down a 3-pointer to put Phoenix back in control.
Odom and Bryant both missed 3-pointers for the Lakers -- shots that Jackson said came outside of the triangle offense -- and Bell finished things off for the Suns, collecting a Marion air ball and swishing a 17-footer.
Two areas in particular hurt the Lakers. The first was their play when Bryant was on the bench. They gave up a 10-0 run to start the second quarter with Bryant out and buried themselves by allowing a 9-2 run to open the fourth.
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