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'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.
It was the way the game played out. We had guys open, there were situations that were going right.
I wonder if they ever are. I thought they might let that go this year, but it didn't seem apparent at all. Right away, he got booed. He just may be one of those guys that has to carry that for a year or two until another group comes along that gives him a break.
I think he gave the ball up in various points of the year, and I think there's been a fine balance between guys stepping up and making shots and Kobe trusting his teammates. It hasn't got to the point where it's not happening, where I'm disappointed, but there's opportunities that still could be there that have to be exploited even more and we have to recognize that as a team.
We'd rather have Steve being the guy that's taking the shots and making the points than having a bunch of guys get 20 points or 15 points a game.
I thought it was vindictive. I don't like to see it because he's one of the guys that we nurtured here. He was contributing to us a lot in the championship (run) two years ago.
Obviously I think Chauncey Billups is really the guy that controls the throttle over there. He is an important part of their success.
When you have guys like Dixon and Blake basically have career nights, that really sets you on the edge as a team. We didn't come out with the intent to play defense tonight.
I told the guys that the team is going to double- and triple-team Kobe at the end. So he's not going to get the ball. Somebody else is going to have to step and make shots.
I told the guys at halftime, they had their nap in the first half, now it's time to play. And you saw what happened. We slept almost all the way through the third quarter.
It's a tall order, without a doubt. But that's the key to this series is how you're going to slow down the guy that makes this offense generate points and close out on the guys that are getting wide-open shots.
Von has a lot of game. He is an aggressive player, but sometimes it is good to have a wild horse out there who can push guys and challenge people.
I think there's something about wanting to stand in the spotlight. I think the ball is a spotlight, for example, and I think they want to stand in that. I a lot of times see - LeBron is a guy that vacillates between wanting to do that and then wanting to get somebody else involved.
My philosophy is that you don't motivate players with speeches; you have motivated players that you draft. That's where they come in, and those are the guys that are competitive. You can not teach competitiveness.