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But there was Chicago on Tuesday night, still clinging to the dynasty. The clothes-hanger shoulders and 6-foot-6 frame of Jackson sauntered onto the court to a standing ovation at the United Center, a pack of photographers following his every step to the visiting team's bench.

When last seen here almost a year ago, the Chicago Bulls hung a banner for their former coach. Addressing the crowd that night, Jackson referred to having called the team's sixth championship season "the last dance." Then, weirdly, he called the night in his honor "the final groping."

Not so.

More than a year-and-a-half after the Bulls' last championship, Chicago is still a teen-ager in the back seat.

It is time to grow up and move out of mom and dad's house.

The problem with the nostalgia before and during the Lakers' 88-76 victory is that it's getting old, really old, and there's an increasingly ugly underside to it. ESPN took the situation to a new low during Monday night's orgy of self-promotion, the Espy Awards. Having bestowed upon the Bulls an award for "team of the decade," it followed up with a protracted, merciless skit using the Chicago "Superfans" of Saturday Night Live fame.

Over and over, they mocked Bulls owner Jerry Reinsdorf and general manager Jerry Krause, complete with references to their religion and anatomy.

Michael Jordan was shown in the audience having a hearty laugh.

"I'd have to see it to comment on it," Jackson said of the skit. "I heard people say it was in bad taste and other people say it was really funny."

On the public relations scoreboard, this is a predictable rout. Jackson is doing reverse slam dunks with a 40-point lead over Krause. Jordan, naturally, is winning that battle by a huge margin, too.

Bashing Krause is easy and not undeserved but also not very courageous, considering he is a weakling in the public relations arena. Jordan is hardly innocent here. After the Bulls' last championship, tales of bullying cruelty emerged such as His Airness delighting teammates by shouting insults at Krause from the back of a team bus.

Now, Jackson has had his first game at the United Center since leaving the Bulls. Pippen has come and gone, too, as have other former Bulls.

Can second-year Bulls coach Tim Floyd finally be allowed to go through a season without having to genuflect before his predecessors?

"It's good to see this many people here today," Floyd said, keeping his humor in front of reporters at his postgame news conference. "Maybe we can do it again in the future."

Krause's grand plan to lure big-name free agents and return the Bulls to championship form isn't looking good. But he did make solid draft choices with Elton Brand and Ron Artest. The clock doesn't start ticking until next season.

Jackson has the talent to win a title now. The Zenmaster is in mid-dynasty form. He told reporters he wasn't returning to his home court Tuesday. He referred to it, in vaguely new-age terms, as his "home space."

Goodness knows, the Jordan-Pippen-Rodman show needed more than somebody to roll out the basketballs. Jackson earned his banner. That's for certain. But for all of his affectations during his year away from the game, he's not a professor. He's not a political strategist.

He's a basketball coach -- with six rings that this city wants to keep kissing.

Elton Brand is one of the few things Bulls fans have to smile about in the post-Phil Jackson era.(AP)

"In New York, the last championship they won was in 1973," Jackson said. "There are still a lot of fans in New York, when I go down the street, who remember that was the last championship. That was a great time for the Knicks, the five years or six years that team was together. They didn't forget it very quickly.

"So I understand what champions and winning do to cities, especially ones with pride like this one and New York. Chicago hasn't had a lot of champions in the last few years. So it's important to them, I think."

Yeah, just listen to the WGN television reporter Tuesday night.

"If Phil Jackson were right here, what would you say to him?" the reporter asked a female fan at the United Center.

If she faints or doesn't faint?