I'm not a basketball fan at all, but I do log onto SI.com and see the headlines. I saw a pic of Phil Jackson this morning and burst out laughing. Not that I didn't know that he's been coaching, but I recall back in the "Jordan years" how he was retiring from coaching and would only coach if he had an all-star lineup. That was almost 20 years ago! I never liked the guy since then - he basically coached a team that a high school coach could have taken to the championship. And Jordan was no different - he said he wouldn't play unless all the stars were signed to be on that team. I know Jordan is a God in basketball, but I lost a lot of respect for him after that. "I'll only play if I have all the best players on my team or I'm going home." How could the best player in the game at the time (and probably ever) not want a greater challenge? In regards to your post, it sounds like Phil actually has to coach this team to win. And from your writings he's just not doing it. I would never compare Kobe to Michael because eventhough Jordan wanted the all-star lineup, once he was on the court, there was no one better - that man was all business and he made everyone on his team better. Maybe Phil has to assign some kind of Zen book for Kobe to read, lol! Anyway, good luck to you and your team.

Vassago,

Jordan didn't win anything with Doug Collins, who was a good coach. Every year that Phil was in charge and Jordan played a full season: ring. Phil repeated the feat with the Lakers. The Shakobe duo, at the time the best two players in the NBA, with a decent supporting cast were being swept in early rounds every year with Del Harris, who was a bad coach. Arrive Phil, a threepeat, the last one being the ring Phil still sports. Since then, downside: soundly beat by equally talented but better coached Spurs, then destroyed by the inferior but far better coached Pistons which led to Shaquille's and Jackson's exit. No Phil, no playoff.
Phil is back, back to the playoffs. So you got to get the guy his dues.

Auerbach had great players, and now it is clear for all to see that even Larry Brown had ONE star: Billups. He just happened to have been vastly underrated by everybody for many years.

But since then it's been a long bumpy but mostly downhill ride for Phil and Kobe. Twice eliminated by the Suns in the first round (OK a far superior team than the then Kobe one-man show with Odom as side-kick + an dismal supporting cast, so let's NOT blame it ALL on Phil, but still, D'Antoni's Suns never played any D and never went very deep in the playoffs and losing after leading 3-1 is been outcoached).

Then Gasol arrives, Bynum show promise but gets injured, a decent bench has been assembled, they breeze through the West but only to get humiliated by the not very much more talented but far hungrier, gutsier, grittier, smarter, deeper and more DISCIPLINED and DETERMINED Celtic TEAM for the LOOOOOOOOONG AWAITED (25 years) return of the absolute all-time NBA classic finals. Now they are with their back on the wall by a ZERO-star team of 6-9 and less players :P

As for Kobe, he was the best NBA player for many years (when Iverson, Duncan, Nash and Nowitzki were voted MVPs) but he is now only the third best after Lebron and Wade. Lebron now has an excellent and young supporting cast around him and is bound to improve beyond Jordan's level, whereas Kobe has plateaued and can only hope to maintain his current levels for a few years. For all my love for the Lakers, I no longer see Kobe getting three more rings before retiring. I would love to be wrong. But King James and his Cavs have alas arrived. If not this year, then next year. If not next year then the following one. Time is on their side.

And even if Kobe does win 3 more rings (I don't know if the Lakers manage somehow to land Lebron to play with him, how likely ... ) his legacy won't be as amazing as Jordan's. Jordan won the scoring title every year. He is the all-time point average scoring leader. Jordan won all 6 of his Final series. He was also the best defender of his era: the greatest thing about Jordan's final shot as a Bull was not the shot, but the fact that he STOLE the ball from behind from Malone's hands with a few seconds remaining to get the opportunity to spin Byron Russell's head. Without the steal there would have been no shot. It killed Malone's clutch creds and ultimately made him and Stockton the greatest titleless players of all time.

No, I don't think so...

It was like genocide today in LA...

Phil and the Lakers imposed conditions at both ends of the floor that made the Rockets' survival impossible...

They passed their test... bring on the McNuggets...

I guess Phil read your blog - they kicked butt today! I didn't mean to say that Phil Jackson wasn't a great coach and you are right; Chicago couldn't win it all with Collins, but I am saying that I remember him wanting all the big stars back or he wasn't going to coach. And as I said on my previous post, I laughed when I saw Phil coaching because he was going to retire and write Zen books - and that was almost twenty years ago - he's still coaching! I wouldn't argue that Phil may be one of the all time greatest coaches; and Jordan arguably was the best ever player. But it just bugged me a little when, at the time, the Bulls were probably the best team ever assembled in the history of the game, and these two were threatening not to play unless everything was exactly the way they wanted it. It was like a big kid beating up a little kid all over again. I know it's a long season, but was there any doubt that they would repeat? Anyway, I believe you are a Laker fan, so congrats on going to the next round.

Phil knows what he's doing. People were complaining about Fisher still being in the rotation, then in Game 7, he shows up and contributes. I'm not worried at all.

The 2008 Boston Celtics were a much better team than the 2008 Lakers. The Lakers played without Andrew Bynum and had Kobe Bryant and Pau Gasol and Odom as the three best players with a scrub bench. This contrasted with the Celtics which had Rajon Rondo, Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce and Ray Allen. In addition the Celtics also had James Posey and PJ Brown and Kendrick Perkins as the beef up front to push around an out of position Pau Gasol. The Lakers were about 5 or 6 players deep and didn't have as deep a bench against the Celtics. Kobe Bryant isn't a Michael Jordan Player that can score 50 points a game like a Dwayne Wade could against Dallas.

Luke Walton against Paul Pierce doesn't cut it. Sasha Vujacic verses Ray Allen is a mismatch in Boston's favor. Kobe Bryant would have needed to be cloned three times for the Lakers to have a chance and he can't cover Pierce or Ray Allen or Rondo at the same time. LA didn't have the beef or brawn or numbers against Boston.

Larry Brown is overrated which was demonstrated by the Knicks and the Olympics.