Phil Jackson
Phil Jackson
Philip Douglas "Phil" Jacksonis an American professional basketball executive, former coach and former player, currently serving as president of the New York Knicks in the National Basketball Association. Jackson was the head coach of the Chicago Bulls from 1989 until 1998, during which Chicago won six NBA championships. His next team, the Los Angeles Lakers, won five championships from 2000 until 2010. In total, Jackson has won 11 NBA titles as a coach, surpassing the previous record of nine set...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionCoach
Date of Birth17 September 1945
CityDeer Lodge, MT
CountryUnited States of America
Kobe is missing out by not finding a way to become part of a system that involves giving to something larger than himself.
Kobe had to take some heat for that, as if he was the one who manufactured that (O'Neal) trade. All those things were made to look like there was a scapegoat in this situation, and there wasn't.
Kobe fought his way through it tonight. It was one of those games where the numbers of shots he took was too high, but he thought he was going to get fouled and he took the shots because he felt the pressure on him.
I wouldn't ask him to go on the trip. We want him to stay behind, work out and get an opportunity to condition himself. It makes no sense for him to go along on the trip and stay in the hotel while we play.
Kareem met these guys at the door and he said, 'That effort wins on Wednesday (in Game 2).' He was very supportive. I think they heard that -- that if they give that kind of effort again, they can win.
It came to a point where there was that curiosity factor: Was he going to hit 80? I'm sure it went through his head.
I think it's a matter of trust, a matter of rebuilding the trust that we had, ... And yes, I have talked to Kobe; he actually called me this morning to congratulate me on the job. And I felt confident that he's confident that we can go forward.
I think we are playing relatively good basketball. Tonight we were quick to the ball and did a good job on defense.
I think that Shaq measures himself against a season. I've always given him credit for that. He knows what the end goal is, and he's got a tremendous amount of pride. He'll be there when the playoffs are going, and he's going to be probably at his peak at that time.
I think some of our guys hit a little bit of a wall here. We talked a lot about that ... This is a heavy time to play basketball. You've really got to take care of yourself. I had a couple of guys fighting through things out there, under-the-weather type of things. They just couldn't get themselves going.
I think that it can provide a space away from the other things that I'm sure have encroached upon his life and really give him a chance to do what he does best, ... His genius is basketball, and to do that he's got to play it at the highest level.
I will say that I had a number of teams there with Chicago and the Lakers that had over 45 wins or close to that at the All-Star break and the last third of the season is much more difficult. It's really tough.
I think they felt intimidated at some point in this playoff. ...Our big guys have been effective. ... They just wanted to make a stand and make a statement.
He said he wasn't ready to come out. But then he sat down for a while, came back, and made a shot like that. We wanted him to rest his legs. Your legs can suffer when you take as many shots as he does.