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
When you get off to a lead like that they usually catch up. Today we kept them at bay. It's good to be back in the playoffs.
It was a game where our rebounds and defense really failed us and eventually, I had to think about an offensive unit that could do some things to try and catch up. Kobe obviously wasn't right tonight, but this is the second time Blake has scored big against us in critical situations.
It was designed for him (Bryant) to catch the ball and find what he could find available. I have to give him credit that he can shoot that shot. I have to allow his judgment to be so he felt like he could do that at the time. I wanted him to penetrate.
His confidence grew as we kept going back in to him, and he got more productive from that. I think guys started relying on the fact that he could be counted on to catch the basketball and convert.
We talked about how passive they were in the first quarter.
When it doesn't produce wins, that's the fine line. And then players . . . also have to feel like they're a part of it. If they are, then they play at a better level.
We figured no one would break it for another 30 years, just like it took for the Lakers' record to be broken. So, it is surprising Detroit is pushing for it.
I've talked to other players that were there, but that was played in like complete silence. I guess there was a radio announcer there, but there was nothing else that you could even document it. People don't even know if they had a backboard or nets.
I've seen some remarkable games, but never anything like that.
I've seen some remarkable games but I've never seen anything like that before. It's just a personal challenge for him to attack the whole team. It was not exactly the way you want to win a game, but when you have to win a game, it's great to have that weapon to be able to do it. We rode the hot the hand.
I've seen quite a few guys do that in his situation, focused. He wanted to stay in, in the second quarter. He asked to stay in so he could get loose, get a second wind.
I've seen a few 60-point ballgames in my time, but none of them had been done by the third quarter.
It was the way the game played out. We had guys open, there were situations that were going right.
The star of the game obviously goes to Tim Thomas.