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
This is about Phoenix going back to their home court, trying to rally. One win puts things right at the edge again, and we'd have to come back and hold home court, which is a single-game situation. So we know there's a lot of work to be done before we're finished with this thing.
This is a day and age when the perimeter players are scoring more than the interior players.
They still have the defense as their calling card, but they have released and liberated the offense.
They knew how intensely they had to play. They knew that there had to be a win. We just said that we're going to win this game regardless. I'm going to play the players that have to play to win the game. They buckled down and did the job they had to do.
They made that little run and the end, and we had to make some big plays. The biggest plays were defensive -- although Kwame got an offensive rebound that really changed the complexion of the game and forced them to foul.
They played Kobe tough and a little harder than the refs wanted to see.
They got their veterans back on the floor in the second quarter and started running their screen-and-rolls. They were able to play some defense and shut us down after we made a run in the second quarter.
They had a game plan against Kobe that was effective, getting the ball out of his hands.
There really is something nice about it as far as energizing this team. This team has some deadbeats on it, anyway, and the coach is one of them. It's good to have some people out there that are enthusiastic about the game.
This is a team we told our guys not to foul, and we end up sending them to the line 35 times. That was one of the things we didn't expect.
This is really a slow go if it's a tear. What we do know is these are the type of injuries you've got to let heal, go slow with.
This is something I never thought could possibly happen, ... It's a pleasure to come back.
This goes along with who we are as a society. Somebody does something exceptional, people are looking for ways to denigrate them.
Probably would have been sitting on the bench with Connecticut. Who knows? That's just hypothetical stuff you can't even project. But it certainly is a talented team. The growth that he has had here, I think, has been a beneficial factor for him in his overall game.