Phil Jackson

Lakers thoroughly shellacked the Magic the other night to seal their 15th championship and catapult Phil Jackson, that opportunist of opportunists, past Red Auerbach on the all-time, championship list. I’d be remiss not to briefly point out what an insufferable pickle-eater Jackson is. The guy carved a hall of fame career by loitering around the likes of Michael, Shaq and Kobe (a trio you’d have to think a blind donkey could coach to some degree of success) and then he rewards himself by donning a yellow cap, highlighted with a self-righteous Roman numeral “X”. God..

Continue reading "Another Disappointing Finals"

ss to the Houston Rockets, putting them down 1-0 in the series, is to me, enough cause for concern. Phil Jackson needs to sit down Kobe and tell him the same thing he told Jordan: trust your teammates more.

Continue reading "Memo to Kobe: Be like Mike"

He'd fallen back into Phil Jackson's doghouse of late, and my guess is that The Zenmaster was entirely fed up with the player he often called a "Space Cadet."

That's too bad, though, because Radmanovic should have been a very useful player for the Lakers, providing floor space for Kobe Bryant and Pau Gasol, and bringing high-percentage shooting from downtown as well as the free throw stripe. If Luke Walton, Trevor Ariza, and Radmanovic were considered Los Angeles' trio of small forwards, I'd rank Radmanovic either first or second out of the set. Ariza's probably a better all-around player, but I'd definitely take Radmanovic over Walton, who oddly enough, is the one who gets the bulk of the minutes.

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The Celtics are the only team with even the slighest chance to contain Phil Jackson's prolific offense.

When it comes down to it, I like the Lakers this time around. But I can't be as sure of that prediction as I am of the prediction that puts both teams in the finals again. I'll say Lakers in seven, but who could argue with someone that says the Celtics will repeat?

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Watch out Stan Van Gundy, Mike Brown, and Phil Jackson...

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Anyone catch that Spurs Lakers game from last night?  It was a fantastic, wonderful game from tip-off to final buzzer.  It came down to the last possession, and there was a certain exchange that I found to be quite delightful that may just come in handy sometime later this year...  

Continue reading "A Quick Aside... (NOT!)"

s were even in that game.  The Truth has always been a warrior (despite whatever whinny remark Phil Jackson offers to the contrary), and he proved during this series and throughout the Playoffs that he deserves to have his number up there with Bird, Cousy, Russell and McHale when his career is over.

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mmons the Homer picked LA to win easily, citing the dominance of Kobe Bryant and the superiority of Phil Jackson.  The predictions ranged from Lakers-in-5 to Lakers-in-7, but nearly everybody thought that LA would steal one (or both!) of the first two games in Boston.

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e's knee and Boston's future in this series.

First off, I have to say (and I don't even care what Phil Jackson thinks) that Paul Pierce is a warrior.  The Truth showed true grit and desire on Thursday after suffering a nasty looking knee injury that had him writhing in pain and rendered him unable to walk off of the floor, only to return minutes later and lead the Celtics to victory.  That was epic, though I must say nowhere close to Willis Reed's miracle ressurection for the New York Knicks in game seven of the 1970 NBA Finals.  The effect of Pierce's return was similar, but you just can't compare his miraculous return to Reed's game seven heroics.

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e Lakers feature the league's best player, Kobe Bryant, as well as the NBA's greatest living coach, Phil Jackson, as well as a host of other talented players that make the Lakers an efficient and exciting offensive team.  How do you build a team that good?  Simple: You have to have two GMs, in this case Mitch Kupchak, who was responsible for building the Lakers' supporting cast of Derek Fisher, Lamar Odom, Sasha Vujacic and Vladimir Radmanovic, and Chris Wallace, who was responsible for gift wrapping Pau Gasol for Los Angeles (seriously, Pau for Kwame Brown, there should be an investigation into that robbery).

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