Visions of future comfort Jackson, Bryant

As hard as it might be to believe, Phil Jackson managed to salvage a few positives from the Lakers' 39-point season-ending loss last night. Above all, he sees hope for the future for his young team.

"Without a doubt," said Jackson. "We suffered injuries and survived a season and rebuilt our team and came back and had a great playoff run until the Celtics were able to extinguish that hope.

"But we'll look back on this favorably. We were surprised we were here and we're glad we had this opportunity. But whenever you get this opportunity, you don't want to let it slip away, and we did."

Kobe Bryant also sees a brighter future for this squad, if it stays together and stays healthy. But he also wants the Lakers to seize the opportunity more than they did this time around.

"We're fine," said Bryant. "I think what we have to do is continue to work, and really the key is understanding that this isn't guaranteed to anybody. There's people who have gotten here before and never gotten back, so it's important for us to understand that, to work hard and come back next year ready to go."

Added Sasha Vujacic: "I think next year, especially with Andrew Bynum and the same group, we won't be short two games like we were this year. I can guarantee you that.

"We are going to work really hard. Personally, I'm going to work myself really hard in the gym for the whole summer. We want to win it. We lost our first Finals and I think we have a lot more to go."

Not enough gas

Pau Gasol knew what he needed to do last night. He set his sights on a repeat of his 19-point, 13-rebound, 6-assist, 2-block performance in Game 5, believing the Lakers needed at least that much to extend the Finals to a Game 7.

He fell short, though - 11 points and 8 rebounds in 32 minutes - and the Lakers got blown out.

Before the game, Gasol said, "I need to give my best and play really aggressive, rebounding, defending, attacking the rim, making sharp plays, making passes. I didn't have any turnovers [in Game 5]. I was pretty focused on finding my teammates. I need to have one of those games again."

Asked what prompted such a strong performance, Gasol said, "Back against the wall and pain of the Game 4 loss, those two factors got me going and got me to give my best, all I got left. Sometimes it's a lot. Sometimes it's not as much.

"I give my best and I know how crucial these games are. We don't know when we're going to have these opportunities again."

That said, the Celtics' injury report was irrelevant to Gasol. He didn't care whether Kendrick Perkins played or not, though Boston missed its starting center in Game 5 and Gasol took advantage.

"I try to keep the same aggressiveness, whoever's out there, no matter what," said Gasol.

Perkins did end up starting, but Gasol did not think the center had made as big an impact in the Finals as in other series. According to Gasol, the biggest benefit of Perkins playing is that his big body wears down the Lakers' big men.

"He plays physical," said Gasol. "You're going to feel that down the stretch."

D, as in dominant

Bryant had no problem saluting the Boston defense, which held the Lakers to 42 percent from the floor, including 23 percent in the second quarter, which proved to be the turning point. "They definitely were the best defense I've seen in the entire playoffs," said Bryant . . . Despite chants of "Beat LA" ringing in his ears, Bryant said he enjoyed taking part in another chapter of the Celtics-Lakers rivalry. After joking, "It sucks," Bryant said, "It was fun. I think a lot of people enjoyed it. I think there was a lot of energy in it. I got a chance to revisit a lot of classic confrontations from the past. We lived those series, and the 'Beat LA' chants and all that stuff. It was fun to be a part of. Hopefully, we'll have another opportunity to get this thing."

See no evil

Much was made of the towel tossing done by Ronny Turiaf when Kevin Garnett was shooting free throws in this series. But the Celtics were far from innocent. As Lakers shooters lined up 3-pointers, the Celtics bench jumped, shouted, and otherwise distracted. So does any of the questionable sideline conduct affect the players on the court? "I don't even know what you're talking about," said Lakers guard Jordan Farmar. Asked if he saw Celtics players jumping and shouting during 3-point attempts, Farmar said, "Who? Everybody does it. You don't notice it when you're playing at all." . . . The Celtics' nearly four-hour flight delay was news to Gasol. Upon hearing about the problems, he sarcastically said, "I'm sorry about that." He added, "It's a five-hour flight no matter how you look at, even if you're delayed or not. It's five hours on the plane and it's never easy for tall, big guys."

Shira Springer can be reached at springer@globe.com