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
It is good to be back in the playoffs again. That's an important step for this club because of the number of young players we have that haven't been in the playoffs.
I just think he's a very determined player and dedicated to what he's doing. He's doing a lot of letting things develop on their own.
He'll be playing out on the perimeter a lot, ... How much, I don't know. He might start there the first and third quarters and play a power position in the second and fourth quarters.
I think he has a level of confidence that gives him the understanding of what he can and can't do in this game. I think he's playing within the groundwork of what he's capable of doing, which is really important.
That's what happens when a team plays with some desperation.
Obviously the game was determined by Howard leaving so early. That took a lot of energy away from them and we played well as a group.
It was a good practice session, but then we started tailing-off, just as most players do during exhibition games and we started shooting more instead of executing.
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 know they can get scoring from three players every night, and sometimes all five can score. It's an all-inclusive thing.
It was a big win for us. We caused a lot of turnovers and stepped up the tempo knowing they played last night.
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.
They played Kobe tough and a little harder than the refs wanted to see.
He played with the energy and the enthusiasm and threw his body around out there, things that we want to see players do. That helped us. I thought he ran out of gas at one point in that fourth quarter. Otherwise, I probably would have had him stay on the floor.
They knew how intensely they had to play. They knew that there had to be a win. We just said that we're going to win this game regardless. I'm going to play the players that have to play to win the game. They buckled down and did the job they had to do.