Yeah, Mitch and Jerry, I know. He’ll be 36 in August.
He’s lost a step. Maybe a step and a half.
He’s not even close to the pressure defender he used to be. And even back in the day there were those moments when he could be exposed. And not just a little. Sometimes he could be [...]
If Jerry Buss really wants Phil Jackson back to coach the Los Angeles Lakers, now would be the time for the team owner to speak up.
Don’t hold your breath.
Although Buss could have lauded Jackson any time over the past two years as the Lakers won back-to-back NBA titles, the owner’s silence on the matter has [...]
Kobe Bryant played a key role in his Lakers winning the 2000 NBA championship. He played brilliantly against the Indiana Pacers in overtime of Game 4 of the NBA Finals and used an open court look, set up by his coaches, to win the game.
It’s been 10 years since Bryant and Phil Jackson embarked on [...]
It would seem that much has changed since the Celtics and Lakers met in the 2008 NBA championship series. Now the two teams meet again in the 2010 NBA Finals, and a lot of folks think the Lakers are ready to win a second straight title.
On the good side for the Lakers, they’re older and [...]
Yes, we all know that Phil Jackson is the smartest basketball coach in the known universe. So it stands to reason that, with his prodigious memory, lofty IQ and exquisite deductive powers, Jackson just doesn’t screw up very often.
Yet when he does make a mistake, it’s often a real lulu, a stupendous boner.
For example, there [...]
Phil Jackson is the master of match-ups. He knows that factor singularly rules the order of succession, not just in the playoffs, but on a nightly basis in the NBA.
It’s just that the match-up issues are more profound in the playoffs.
So now we have a fresh four-team tournament before us, the NBA’s version of a [...]
Elgin Baylor never won an NBA championship ring.
So how could you even consider him the All-Time MVP of the NBA Playoffs?
Well, you have to at least consider Baylor among the nominees along with Boston’s great Bill Russell (the centerpiece of 11 championship teams), Chicago’s Michael Jordan, and a select few others. By the way, the [...]
All fans of the Los Angeles Lakers and West Virginia Mountaineers know just how much the spectre of Jerry West looms over their teams. The source of his great competitiveness West drew from his mother Cecile. In honor of Mother’s Day, I offer this excerpt from my book, “Jerry West, The Life And Legend Of [...]
