Phil Jackson puts the Lakers through a grinding practice

When they had a chance to end practice a little earlier by making some free throws, they were unsuccessful, which allowed a smiling Lakers Coach Phil Jackson to extend practice longer until the goal was accomplished.

Even though the Lakers played an exhibition Sunday night in Las Vegas and flew back to Los Angeles after the game, that meant little to Jackson.

For Kobe Bryant, it was a "standard" day.

"It's just hard work," Bryant said. "I don't think anybody here is like exhausted, or nothing like that. This is what we do. It feels good to work this hard."

If they had made their free throws at the end of practice, the Lakers could have cut down that extra work.

All Jackson asked was that the Lakers make more than 70% of their free throws, meaning they had to make "13 of 17" in Jackson's words -- with each player shooting once.

They failed the first time and had to run, which left Bryant swearing at his teammates.

They failed again and had to run around the court, sort of a military fashion that when Jackson blew his whistle, the last player in line had to sprint to the front of the line.

Finally, on their third try, the Lakers made the necessary amount of free throws, with Bryant encouraging his teammates, calling them by nicknames like "Congo" for DJ Mbenga, a native of that country.

"You just got to bring a sense of urgency to it," Bryant said. "A lot of times when you shoot free throws, you go there and you kind of shoot them lackadaisical. Then you wait until the second, third and forth chance you get and then you focus. You've got to focus from the top."

The Lakers don't play again until Saturday, when they host the two-day exhibition shootout at Staples Center.

The Lakers will play Regal FC Barcelona at 7:30 p.m. and the Clippers will play the Toronto Raptors at 4:30. The winners play each other and the losers play each other Sunday afternoon.

With so much time off this week, Jackson saw no reason not to push the practice session. And by the way, the Lakers will be back at it Tuesday morning.

"Sometimes when they go long, they don't finish as strong as you like," Jackson said. "But it was OK."

broderick.turner@latimes.com