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NBA FINALS: MAGIC v LAKERS

June 14, 2009

Phil Jackson

ORLANDO, FLORIDA: Game Five

Los Angeles Lakers - 99
Orlando Magic - 86

Q. Should we call you Dr. Coach Phil Jackson now with this great accomplishment or some other accolade?
PHIL JACKSON: No, it's just fine just the way it is, thank you.

Q. Your team started strong, they stayed strong with the Jazz, then Houston, then Denver and now you've finished strong winning the championship in Orlando. Talk about the strength of yourself and the team.
PHIL JACKSON: We went into the playoffs and we thought that we'd helped ourselves by getting Andrew Bynum back again to give us some depth at the interior part of our game, shot-blocking, rebounding, size-wise, and we came into Utah, Utah played us the last game of the season, so we had a look at them. They lost Okur, one of their steady ball players, one of the few three-point shooters for centers in the league, and it changed up how we were able to play that series a little bit and got ourselves through that series quickly. That was a benefit for us.
Houston was a different story altogether. They were fast, they were very driven, team-ball play, they did a good job in spacing out the court, getting accomplished what they wanted to do. They had two defenders to throw at Kobe in Artest and Battier, and so they were a really worthy opponent, pushed us to seven games. I thought that really made us the team that we got to be in the playoffs. We understood what we had to get accomplished, and we did the job from that time forward, played good basketball.
Denver was physical and quick. They're an elite team. They played extremely well at the end of the year, and we were able to come back after a 2-2 start in that series and finish them off.
This obviously was a game we expect tonight, to be honest with you. I thought we'd have to struggle a little bit. We got a run in the second period and were able to get some distance and play our game from then on.

Q. I asked you before the game tonight about the historic aspects of it, and I know you were a bit reluctant to talk about that. Can you take a step back now? You have done something no coach has ever done, won more championships than any coach in NBA history. What does that mean to you? And can you talk about the historical significance of it?
PHIL JACKSON: I can, but I'd like to say that it's really about the players; it's about Kobe Bryant, about Derek Fisher's leadership of the team. I tried to take them through some of the build-up things that we had to do last year as a basketball club. They came together this year and were self-motivated, and for a coach that's always a positive sign. When a team is ready, they're aggressive, their learning curve is high, and they wanted to win. I've always felt as a coach you have to push your team, and I told them they had to push themselves. I wasn't at the stage of my life where I could get out and do the things that I had done 10 years ago or 15 years ago to push a team. And they pushed themselves, and I really feel strongly that this is about them.
However, having won ten championships is a remarkable accomplishment, there's no doubt about it. Watching those games clicked down, and a championship of all different forms and fashions, on the road, at home, players that vault themselves into team play is a remarkable thing to have watched.
I think I've always said this before, the journey is what's really important, and it's important for the players and the coaches to watch these kids come together and form a unit and be supportive of each other, and this was no exception, this team.

Q. On a night you passed Red Auerbach, would it be hard for you to not think of your Coach Red Holzman in the days leading up to this? And would you imagine he probably would really enjoy watching you pass the other Red?
PHIL JACKSON: Well, he took a lot of pride in his coach Les Harrison, who coached the Rochester Royals. I was at the Hall of Fame induction at one point for Walt Frazier, and the two of them came over and said, "You know, you're really our grandson. You're his father and I'm his father, so you're really my grandson." Harrison was obviously one of the founders of the NBA and a great basketball coach in his own right.
So there's a legacy that came that direction with me. But I've had a lot of people that have supported me. Tex Winter, obviously, who's back in Portland recovering from a stroke, and obviously my college coach Bill Fitch, who's a big strong supporter of me over the years, have all been very important in my coaching career.

Q. You've never gone this long between championships. Does that make it a little more important, maybe impressive in your book?
PHIL JACKSON: Well, I was in Australia, and the Lakers made a coaching change, Jeannie Buss called me up and asked me to come back and take the team at that particular moment, and I said, "No, I couldn't do that. That's just not fair to the team, ,it's not fair to the players and myself." I said that I'd have to think about it a long time because this team is quite a ways from a championship even though Kobe Bryant always gives you a chance to win.
So over the next two and a half months I spent some time thinking about it and rekindling my energy to come back and coach, but when I came back I didn't anticipate we'd win. I'd be part of it. I thought maybe I'd build the steps to a winning team, but I didn't think I'd be part of it, and this is much quicker than I thought it would happen.

Q. You talked about how it was all about the journey. Your journey with Kobe Bryant has gone a long ways from his being a young player. He talked about it after he won, you grow as a man and you grow as a person. How much have you seen on your journey with him together?
PHIL JACKSON: Well, there was a point in Kobe's first, second year when we sat together and watched tape. I wanted him to understand his impact on the game a little bit and my feeling about his impact on the game. We had a game in Toronto, and he had gotten hooked up with Vince Carter in the middle of the fourth quarter and they kind of exchanged baskets, and I thought it took our team out of their team play, and the game was much harder than it should have been. So I talked to him a little bit about leadership and the quality and his ability to be a leader, and he said, "I'm ready to be a captain right now," and I said, "but no one is ready to follow you." He was 22 at the time. He was a young guy.
In those eight years that have ensued from that period, he's learned how to become a leader in a way in which people want to follow him, and I think that's really important for him to have learned that, because he knew that he had to give to get back in return, and so he's become a giver rather than just a guy that's a demanding leader, and that's been great for him and great to watch.

Q. Along those same lines, would you say that the second quarter was kind of representative of that during that stretch when you pulled away, three assists in that span? Is that kind of what you're talking about there?
PHIL JACKSON: Yes, there was just that little feel there in the game where they were vulnerable and we took advantage of it. Kobe was the thrust that created shots for guys and the opportunities for guys on the floor. That was really our chance, and we said at halftime, we get another opportunity like that, we have this game in hand if we can just crack one more three-minute span like that and create some turnovers and run-outs and do it again. Kobe said, "I'll push the guys and I'll find guys if you guys run the court."

End of FastScripts

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