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
I think he looks comfortable playing. That's the one thing I felt last year - that he didn't look comfortable playing.
I felt like they were frustrated and they have a reason to be frustrated. Things didn't happen for them and it's a frustrating thing for these young kids.
I felt at some times Kobe might have taken advantage of our flexibility,
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.
My father was a man who didn't consider himself learned. He was a man who liked to be a farmer. He enjoyed his dairy farm and felt the calling. So there was a dedication. I was dedicated as a child to the service of God, and so there was this continual centering of a greater purpose than your own.
There's a process teams go through to put themselves in a competitive place. And when they get to that position, I felt like if they want me to coach that team, I'd have to listen to them, because of my connections in New York and my connections as a Knick.
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 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 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.
Our game plan was to exploit the middle and do the things we wanted to, but he (Bryant) was still supposed to be a force over on that side of the offense. I just felt he never really got in rhythm until the end, and we said ?Just go after it.
I have to allow his judgment. He felt like he could do that at that time.
I didn't think he had good legs. He told me in the fourth quarter he was going to get hot, that he felt like he was getting in his rhythm, and he hit in a few in the fourth quarter. But, he was really bothered by Bell. He did a great job on him.
I felt they were self-directed out there. They knew what they wanted to run. They broke down the double-teams and I didn't have to burn timeouts to explain it to them. That was satisfying to me.
We talked about how passive they were in the first quarter.