Jackson delivers a few fresh zingers

SACRAMENTO — The love affair between Phil Jackson and the state capital continued Thursday.

“It’s a beautiful place,” he said, opening his arms figuratively with an apparent compliment for Arco Arena.

Eyebrows were raised in suspicion by those who were listening, and Jackson delivered his punch line.

“It’s just one of the very few places where you have to walk across the court to get to a locker room that’s a dungeon,” he said.

Here he goes again.

He once referred to Sacramento as a “cow town,” leading to years of cowbell ringing by fans behind the Lakers’ bench and plenty of headaches for those who happened to be sitting on it.

Try as he might, Jackson couldn’t resist another go-round with Kings fans.

“I’m glad that they’re supporting their Sacramento team and hopefully it will stay in town,” he said, pausing a moment. “I think the fans deserve this team even though they didn’t vote for a new arena.”

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With the Lakers’ three-player inactive list now holding the full weight of injured players (Kwame Brown, Lamar Odom and Chris Mihm), guards Shammond Williams and Aaron McKie could get more playing time by necessity.

“We’re going to be a little personnel-short in the big department, so some of our smaller players -- Maurice [Evans], Aaron -- are going to have to play small forward at times and help us out,” Jackson said.

McKie hasn’t played a minute this season and has seven points in 14 games over two seasons with the Lakers.

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Jackson left the one-game-at-a-time cliches at home -- not that he uses them often -- in offering a wide-angle view of the Lakers’ season so far. He said he would accept their win-loss record, particularly with the injuries they have faced.

“Certainly,” he said. “We feel like we’ve lost a couple games in overtime, close games that we don’t win and we’ve had our opportunities in a couple others, but we have to be thankful where we’re at.

“From now until the end of the month, when we go on a long road trip, we just have to maintain position, hold our own.”

TONIGHT

vs. Denver, 7:30, FSN West

Site -- Staples Center.

Radio -- 570; 1330.

Records -- Lakers 21-11; Nuggets 16-13.

Record vs. Nuggets (2005-06) -- 2-1.

Update -- The Nuggets have lost three consecutive games and are 2-4 with Allen Iverson in their lineup. Their last effort was a 108-97 home loss Tuesday to Iverson’s former team, the Philadelphia 76ers.

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