Posted on 06/03/2004 11:38:15 PM PDT by diamond6
EL SEGUNDO, Calif. -- It's the NBA Finals, and that means Phil Jackson digs into his personal jewelry box for a championship ring to inspire his players.
Jackson sported the 2001 ring won by the Los Angeles Lakers on his right pinkie Thursday. A bit gaudy perhaps, but the 58-year-old coach with nine titles to his credit is following a personal tradition.
"The stuff has just snowballed. I can't stop to absorb it all," he said of the staggering success he's experienced as an NBA coach.
Jackson has been called lucky to have coached the likes of Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen in Chicago and Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant with the Lakers. Considering the four superstars didn't win a championship before playing for Jackson, maybe they're the lucky ones.
A Jackson-coached team won its first title 13 years ago when the Bulls beat the Lakers, clinching the title at the Forum in nearby Inglewood.
Just a few miles away at the Lakers' training facility, Jackson recalled feeling he had reached the pinnacle of his profession at that time.
He was only just beginning.
The Bulls won five more titles including three straight from 1996-98 before Jackson, Jordan and Pippen all left.
After taking a year off, Jackson signed a five-year, $30 million contract to coach the underachieving Lakers, who immediately won three straight championships, giving their coach six straight and nine overall, tied with former Boston Celtics coach Red Auerbach.
The Lakers were eliminated from the playoffs by San Antonio last May -- five days after Jackson underwent an angioplasty to clear a clogged heart artery.
Now, they're four wins shy of winning their fourth title in five years, and heavily favored to do so against the Detroit Pistons.
"That would be a real feat, I think," Jackson acknowledged of winning a 10th title in his 14th season as a head coach.
Jackson has been known as the "Zen Master" because of his involvement with meditation.
"In everybody's mind, the perception of Zen and meditation is calm and quiet. He strives for that because he's so opposite," said Jackson's girlfriend, Jeanie Buss, daughter of Lakers owner Jerry Buss and a team executive as well.
"He doesn't sit around all day with his legs crossed meditating," Buss said. "He does spend time meditating to get away from it all. Meditation is about clearing the mind. For me, it's pretty easy to clear my mind. He's got to practice it -- it's like working out."
Lakers assistant coach Kurt Rambis called Jackson "a very normal guy."
"He's very approachable, very intelligent, very passionate about his job," Rambis said. "He was a very demanding coach when he first got here -- very strict, really pushed the guys. As he's evolved here, as his team has evolved, he's gotten a lot more accommodating."
Jackson's contract expires after the season, and the Lakers broke off negotiations on an extension in February. While Jackson has been noncommittal about his future, Rambis believes his boss still wants to coach.
Jackson enters the finals with an NBA postseason-record 174 victories.
"He'll probably be either the greatest coach or one of the greatest coaches, according to me," O'Neal said regarding Jackson's status should the Lakers win the title. "I don't know what Red Auerbach would say about that. I'd put him right up there."
Buss said Jackson works 20 hours a day during the season.
"He's constantly plotting, especially during the playoffs," she said. "There are many nights we're at dinner where there's silence.
"He's not the perfect person. It's not like that. Is he the most adult man I've ever had a relationship with? Yes, by far. The most complex? Yes."
And, Buss pointed out, very human.
"He loves to watch baseball on TV and have a beer," she said.
Even if true, this is more common than one would think. The reason is, the fans pay the bills and they don't come to see the bench play. Therefore, it is true that the refs usually keep track of who has technicals against them and who is in foul trouble. I say usually, because alot of times it doesnt matter but a ref is typically going to wait for a real foul or a have a really good reason to make that 6th foul or 2nd technical call.
Then again, other refs call 'faggot basketball' and call a foul every time a guy gets touched. While this is very popular for Laker haters, if this was called against your team you wouldn't like it very much.
Yeah, Jackson is a normal guy. He 'gets his hair done' by one of those wacked out Hollywood types who do a 'fung shwei (sp?) metaphysical thing to their hair to help their aura.
Oh yeah, thats normal. At any rate, I don't really have a problem with Phil, he's free to do as he wishes and I wish him well. I just don't see greatness as you do. See you monday!
no pics of Jeanie?
Lakers in 5.
Okay, Red. Whatever you say.
bump
do whut now?
you should know, I am the master-forecaster.
hurtt in 4!
Huh?
check post 28.
Wow. That'll be a neat trick now.
Thanks for the update. Regardless, I'm up nicely with the Lakers this year.
You were saying?????
Ouch.
In the words of Marshal Sam Girard in The Fugitive: "You wanna revise your bull---- story?"
Diamond6 was so chatty at the beginning of this thread. I wonder what happened...
:-)
Now you know why I don't gamble.
BWAAAHAHAHAHAHA!
All that being said, I was disgusted with the Lakers' performance. They came in overconfident and didn't work hard for at least two of the first three games. By then, the Lakers had been psyched out by the Pistons, and the entire mindset of the series had changed. The injury to Malone hurt also, but the worst thing was the way the team tore themselves apart by dissension.
I don't begrudge the teams themselves. If you're the best, you're the best. What I hate is the arrogance. Thanks for having the class to turn it down a notch after a defeat, something that Yankees fans had trouble doing after losing to the D'backs.
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