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
We had some dramatic plays down the stretch. Kobe stayed very well inside of what we were trying to do. We kind of died on the vine a couple of times when the shot clock was running down. Then we were able to find that penetrating pass. We were able to find a couple of things that worked for us.
There's one thing that we've had success doing, and that's keeping (the Suns) out of their running game, their full-out, 60 mph running game that is difficult for us to keep up, difficult for the whole league to keep up with.
As much as we pump iron and we run to build our strength up, we need to build our mental strength up... so we can focus... so we can be in concert with one another.
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 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.
Kind of a blowout in that third quarter when they got a run on us, and we never recovered from that.
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.