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From the NBA:
Los Angeles Lakers head coach Phil Jackson has been fined $25,000 for criticizing game officials, it was announced today by Stu Jackson, NBA Executive Vice President, Basketball Operations. The Lakers were also fined $25,000 for their coach’s comments.
Jackson and the Lakers have been fined for his comments made on camera between the 1st and 2nd periods during Game 4 of The Finals.
With practice canceled for both teams on Friday, head coaches Phil Jackson and Stan Van Gundy participated in phone conference calls with reporters on the line.
Here are the two head men’s responses to varying questions on the heels of L.A.’s dramatic 99-91 Game 4 victory over Orlando:
Lakers Head Coach Phil Jackson
THE MODERATOR: Welcome, everyone, to today’s conference call featuring coaches from both teams, the Los Angeles Lakers and Orlando Magic. We’ll begin now with Coach Phil Jackson of the Lakers. Would you like to just make an opening remark?
PHIL JACKSON: Yeah, I just wanted to inform our listeners and participants that having won that game, which was obviously a big push for us and a great advance towards winning a championship, we recognize the fact that we still have a big battle, big game to win before we can do anything more or claim anything. I have not watched the full tape. I have seen up to the third quarter, but I will respond to any questions about the game and the future games.
Q. I’ve been assigned to place you in context, in your place in history. I know you’re just stuck at nine titles so you’re tied with Red right now, but just on a general notion, how do you feel when you hear yourself asked about a, quote, place in history?
PHIL JACKSON: Well, you know, we try to work under the assumption that you’re only successful the moment you perform a successful act, and in that regard, this has not been accomplished yet. So talking about futuristic things kind of throws me for a loop. Talking about Red Auerbach’s record and what he accomplished as an NBA coach, I can again as a young player in the NBA looking at those records of the Celtics and realizing and thinking about how unattainable they are, how remarkable 11 championships at that time were, and the fact that Red coached nine championships, world championships. So I do know that it’s a momentous thing.
Q. Do you have a theory on whether you should foul or shouldn’t foul based on how much time is left in the game?
PHIL JACKSON: Yeah, I do. I usually go with anything under five seconds and if the ball is taken out in the half court area, guys coming away from the basket, you want to foul them and make them restart again. You know, usually if there’s somewhere over eight, nine, ten seconds, you want to make them put the ball on the floor, use some time maybe before you give a foul. But that’s not a hard, fast rule. There are times when we have fouled just to say, look, let’s make them start over again, let’s have them reset, have to get the ball back in again and then we’ll go from there. We want to see what they’re going to do. That’s been an option, too. But for the most part it’s usually five seconds.
Q. Your team made a couple of passes and Fish put the ball on the floor two or three times. Were you surprised that no foul ever came?
PHIL JACKSON: Well, once he put the ball on the floor and he was driving the ball up the court, it became difficult for the defender to know whether to foul or not because then he can go into his shooting motion, and any time a guy comes to foul at that point when no one was there with him, and obviously they had thrown two guys at Kobe to double team him and get him off the ball in that situation, that put Derek in the driver’s seat.
Q. How do you keep the emotions in check, even the excitement in check, that the players are feeling the next 48 hours with the knowledge they’re one win away from a championship?
PHIL JACKSON: You know, I don’t know if I have the expertise in that department. This is something that really has got a lot to do with how Orlando plays. We just have to go out there and assume the fact that we’re going to have to play at a very elevated level to win this game. The big key is that if we can match that play and the energy that they throw out there on the floor, then we give ourselves a chance. To do that we have to be focused, which is always a coach’s cry, get focused. We have to reach the energy level or the emotional level of the game in a way that matches what the crowd and the Orlando team put out there on the floor.
Q. Did you sense any over excitement on the players’ behalf after the game last night?
PHIL JACKSON: Oh, without a doubt. They’re excited about the possibility of winning, and they’re thrilled to have won that game. Yeah, there’s no doubt that they’re excited about it. This morning we had a short team meeting just to kind of clarify what we’re going to get accomplished in the next day and a half here sitting around waiting, getting plans made for tomorrow, et cetera. And you can sense the mood of the team is they’re really excited about it. But what I told them is there’s a chance tomorrow’s practice may be the last practice of the season. That’s also something that gets them pretty excited because practice for players is something that is at this level of the game, having gone through hundreds or probably more than a hundred some practices, they’re excited about not having to come to practice again.
Q. Considering how important Trevor and Lamar have both been to your postseason run, what do you think about what lies ahead for you guys in the offseason, potentially having to make a decision between those two players?
PHIL JACKSON: You know, I don’t know if that’s actually what’s going to happen. I mean, that’s not written in stone, that we have to make a decision between those two players. I don’t think that’s a case at all. This is just part of the NBA, what level the NBA has brought to the game at this point, is you have players that you have decisions to make in the free agent life, and last year Boston lost one of its key players in James Posey and they had to go on and let him go to free agency. I think that didn’t bother him. I think it hurt him in the course of the season, but that’s what you have to do is you have to maintain discipline and whatnot. So we’ll discuss that and a number of other things with personnel in a couple of weeks.
Q. I know you’ve talked about Trevor’s development over the last year several times, but especially after his third quarter last night, can you just talk about the player he’s become in the short time that you’ve had him?
PHIL JACKSON: Well, Trevor is a player that we thought was a developing player as we got him. I mean, this is a young guy that obviously we felt came out of college early in hopes of getting drafted and ended up in New York and never got fully developed as a player in college or in the pros because he didn’t stay in one organization long enough to do that. We thought that his ability to develop as a player was going to be key. This is the year that he’s really shown that development as a player. The big key with Trevor is you have to learn how to shoot the shot, and this year he’s learned how to shoot the shot to go along with his drive, his slash game. And here he is in a position that every player envies, having an opportunity to perform on a championship team and be in a free agency situation behind it.
Phil Jackson addressed assembled media following L.A.’s Wednesday morning practice:
Q. How can you just whether this team is ready, what kind of feeling will you have?
PHIL JACKSON: Boy, that’s not the easiest question to answer because we’ve got two really good days of practice. Today wasn’t as sharp or as crisp, and that’s what you’re looking for as a coach is that everybody is focused, they’re reacting well, shooting well in a sense.
Q. Pau, he talked yesterday about how he really hit the weight room this season and he’s stronger and he doesn’t have to take anti inflammatories. How much healthier is he now than he was a year ago?
PHIL JACKSON: Yeah, I just think that he’s never been one that’s been dedicated to the weight room type. We understand that. But knowing what happened last year and felt we just didn’t have the muscle to get in there and wrestle with Boston in the situation that we were in, that he really had to get in the weight room, and it would help his rebounding, and it certainly has.
Q. What does it mean that you lost two games to those guys? Does it mean anything going into The Finals?
PHIL JACKSON: It means we have a great deal of respect for them as far as a team. They played very well down the stretch in both the games to win the two games they played against us. Obviously those are mitigating circumstances; we had different people in the lineup, they had different people in the lineup. It was four months ago, but it certainly gives us a great deal of respect for them.
Q. Can you talk about just what it means to be back here. And then also the role that you had to take, taking a team from a lottery to being a championship contender over the last five years or so?
PHIL JACKSON: Well, I came back at the behest of the Buss family really to coach this team back into playoff contention. We obviously got back into the playoffs even though we got back to .500 and struggled in the playoffs both against Phoenix first two years and then we subsequently have gotten to a position where we feel like we’re as strong as any team in the league. Every night we give ourselves a chance to win, and have during the regular season. So that’s been really the blessing of coming back and having this opportunity again to see this team rise through kind of a feeling situation, come out from the ashes and become again a dominant team in the league.
Q. What keeps you going? I know you’ve been dealing with a lot of health issues and other things throughout the year. How much longer do you see yourself being able to do this?
PHIL JACKSON: With the training staff we have and the equipment manager, it’s about as easy a life as I can live. He carries my luggage, and the therapists, they keep me going every day. I’m in good shape.
Q. In terms of motivation?
PHIL JACKSON: It’s really about the momentum of a season. You know, you get caught up in this day to day life that we have where your schedule is pretty much determined from October until summer. You know, you get onto it, and there’s something about it that you learn over a behavior period, I think, of years. I think it’s going to be hard to get away from it, personally. I know I’ve done it twice, and I know one year, the asterisk season, and they didn’t start playing until February, and the other year I went to the South Pacific and got away from the basketball game simply by dissolving the presence of NBA ball.
But yeah, it’s something that’s been in my life for 40 years.
Q. When you talked about health and rings yesterday, we never got around to asking you, what happens if you win this thing? Will that enter into your decision about coming back?
PHIL JACKSON: I hope it does. It’s certainly an event that would be a culmination of an effort.
Q. So that means a large part of it, if you finally win that tenth ring?
PHIL JACKSON: I guess I really haven’t thought about it in that depth. I’ve kind of left that off to assessment at the end of the year.
Continue reading ‘Phil Jackson Press Conference’
The last time L.A. played a Game 7 at STAPLES Center, George W. Bush had just taken office, Y2K had failed to ruin the world and Andrew Bynum was 12 years old.
But Phil Jackson’s attitude hasn’t much changed.
The thesis statement from the head coach after Saturday’s practice was simple: His players were fully prepared, and knew precisely what was required of them leading into Sunday’s Game 7 with Houston.
“The guys on our team believe that we know what we have to do to get this accomplished. We came out in the third quarter (of Game 6) and got the game back in hand, but we lost it by a series of misplays that weren’t related to anything that Houston did but what we didn’t do. We were able to match the energy level in that third quarter, but we couldn’t sustain our mind set, how we’re going to play against them and what we’re going to do, so that’s what we have to do (on Sunday).
Of course, Jackson wasn’t interested in detailing exactly what adjustments will be made, but his general point that his players knew the onus was on them was confirmed by one Laker after another, including Kobe Bryant and Pau Gasol.
“I don’t know, don’t care (what kind of Rockets team will show up),” said Bryant. “We know they’re going to come out fighting and we have to be ready. We have to worry about what we’re going to do.”
“We know what we’re facing and we’re excited about it,” added Gasol. “The mind set has to be really aggressive and confident.”
Now, if you had to pinpoint a single focus, you can guess what end of the floor it was on.
“We’re continuing to evolve, (but) I think in the second half of (Game 6) we picked up our defensive intensity and saw kind of what we’re capable of in playing as hard as we did,” Bryant continued. “Hopefully tomorrow that effort will be there at the start.”
Fisher’s Confidence Not Faltering
One common question of late has centered around the struggles of Derek Fisher, who had made just 1-of-14 3-pointers en route to 29.4 percent shooting in the series and struggled at times to stay with the younger, quicker Aaron Brooks. Yet Fisher’s been around the block too often, come through in too many big situations to feel anything but confident about his game heading into Game 7, as he intimated after practice. He certainly has the trust of Phil Jackson, who indirectly suggested that Fisher would again be on the floor at the opening tip.
“We want all our players to be ready to play,” Jackson said. “What we have as a starting lineup is certainly not going to be always the team that we’ve got in there, but these are the guys that we count on and we’re going to go with the guys we believe in.”
In other words, the starting lineup should stay the same, but other than Kobe Bryant (he won’t be sitting much), minutes will be determined by who’s playing well, which could well mean more burn for Jordan Farmar in particular.
On the Block
The tenor of the game may be decided not on the perimeter by Fisher and Bryant, but rather on the block with Gasol, Andrew Bynum and Lamar Odom. After all, the Rockets took advantage of the physical nature of Game 6 after noticing early that heavy contact was allowed in the paint, but that may not be the case on Sunday.
With Odom, L.A.’s biggest concern is his bruised back, which Carl Landry took advantage of Odom’s in the second half of Game 6. Jackson said Odom’s pain is “a concern,” but won’t keep him off the floor. Phil had more to say about Gasol and Bynum:
On Gasol: “If he stands still on the post and receives the ball, Chuck Hayes is a big, solid, wide guy, a lot of power in there to get up underneath (Gasol) where he doesn’t have a lot of room to move. But if we get him moving, get the team moving and the ball moving, (Gasol) is fine, he’ll do a good job against (Hayes). We have to set him up, it’s not just going to be get him the ball and let him go 1-on-1.”
On Bynum: “The guys just have to look for him. He’s a great target, he has a big body, if he asks for the ball and guys rotate off him we have to get him the basketball. He was open in certain situations, and we were interested in 3-point shots because we got concerned with making up the distance. But I think the guys will have the right idea, they know what do to.”
The Meditator
When asked if the public confidence he’s portrayed throughout the series was different from his personal feelings, Jackson acknowledged the following:
Has my sleep pattern changed? Yes. But that’s why I meditate and work on the things I work on. You have to play with control, but you have to play at optimum speed, so if you get hyped up and are trying to play above the level at which you can play controlled basketball, you’re doing a disservice. So it’s a combination of two things. I think (John) Wooden said it best: “Be quick but don’t hurry.” That’s kind of the statement.
Eyes Wide Shut
Sasha Vujacic, who like Fisher has struggled with his shot in the playoffs (24.6 percent), was still on the court shooting an hour after the first interview was conducted. After hitting 13-of-14 shots in seven spots around the 3-point line, Vujacic made 10 straight free throws, then 10 more with his eyes shut. “OK, now I can go,” he said before finally walking into the locker room.
“I think it all depends on if Mehmet (Okur) is going to play or not,” said Jackson. “If he does that’s a tough cover because he’s a 3-point line shooter. He’s a guy that we probably have to put someone that has a little more mobility than Drew on him. That’s alright with us, we’re fine with that. Otherwise the lineup will stay as it has been.”
Okur is being called a game-time decision after the Jazz went through their morning shootaround at EnergySolutions Arena. Okur is particularly threatening from the three-point line, Jackson would prefer to have the more mobile Odom for defensive purposes.
Check out the video above to see all of Phil’s remarks and what Kobe Bryant had to say about tonight’s matchup.
Lakers head coach Phil Jackson spent much of his seven-minute pregame media session talking about his championship rings, as this is the first playoff round he’s not worn the 2002 ring since 2003.
Though he revealed that there’s little that hasn’t already been covered regarding the Jazz, he spoke briefly on the matchup as well.
What exactly is Phil Jackson hoping to accomplish with his team heading into Sunday’s first round playoff matchup with the Utah Jazz?
Let’s ask him:
This is an intense period. It’s very much like football would be when you have a week or two weeks to prepare. There’s a scout team, there’s on court activity that replicates what Utah does even though we don’t have the same personnel, it’s the same actions … We hone up our execution offensively. I try to give the heavy-minute guys a few days off so they really get fresh legs – that’s important. Then we start working on end-game situations, and on significant things that would cut down opportunities for the other team (like turnovers) and increase our awareness in the offensive end, especially on side outs and half court, or halftime and quarter-ending sequences.
More accurately, Lakers radio voice Spero Dedes asked him at yesterday’s Lakers Town Hall meeting, which went out on a live video stream from Lakers.com (you can watch by clicking HERE).
With Mitch Kupchak to his left, Jackson went on to identify three things on which L.A. will focus when it comes to Utah:
A) Stopping Mehmet Okur, particularly from the perimeter
B) Containing the penetration of Deron Williams
C) Keeping the Jazz off the free throw line.
At Friday’s practice (CLICK HERE to watch), Jackson acknowledging that finding Okur is definitely an area of focus for the defense, but said that he feels confident in the ability of Pau Gasol and Andrew Bynum to track Okur to the three-point line. On Thursday, he expanded on each of the three keys:
One of the interesting things is that we ended the season with Utah being our last opponent, and the one key to their team that’s the X-factor is Mehmet Okur, who was not at that game because of a hamstring. His stat last year was that if he gets 15 points, they win, basically. If he gets less, they don’t win. That’s kind of a significant factor about how they play. We wanted Andrew (Bynum) and Pau (Gasol) to have that mixed responsibility about who was going to cover Okur in the situation where he trails down the floor – he’s their leading three-point shooter and he’s a 7-footer. But we did see Deron Williams busting down the middle of the floor and getting to the basket … Utah leads the league in layups and assists, and that says something about them, so those are big issues. The other issue that we saw in this ball game was that Utah got to the free throw line 29 times in the first half and 47 times in the game – you cannot allow a team to have that many free throws in a ball game. It’s going to change the outcome of how you play because it’s going to generate energy off the free throw line. Those are things we’ll try to correct leading up to the game.
Kupchak also weighed in, suggesting that while the basketball ops office is focused primarily on preparing for the 2009 NBA Draft to take place in late June, he is also on hand to assist the coaching staff when it comes to dealing with the league.
“He’ll come in after a ball game and say, ‘Did you see anything out there that you thought was inordinate that I need to draw attention to the league from,’” explained Jackson. “Because Mitch becomes the liaison between our team and the league as far as officiating, he’s constantly checking in with us.”
In just two days more days, the theories will be tested in reality.
You can follow our extensive playoff coverage at our Playoff Central page, featuring a full scouting report on the first round series with Utah.
Here’s a reminder that at 3 p.m. today you can go to Lakers.com (CLICK HERE) to watch Mitch Kupchak and Phil Jackson answer questions at Lakers Town Hall 2009.
Play-by-play radio voice of the Lakers Spero Dedes will be on hand to host as L.A.’s brain trust collectively answer wide-ranging questions about the team and individual players.
See you there in a few.
Monday’s practice in L.A. was the Lakers last of the regular season, surely a welcome sight to a purple and gold team primed for the playoffs.
As such, Phil Jackson took more questions about the second season than specifics about Tuesday’s final game against Utah, covering Cleveland’s likely locking up of the NBA’s top overall seed (not concerned about it), explaining whether he saves plays and schemes for the playoffs (kind of) and addressing his history with Jazz head coach Jerry Sloan. Jackson even took some time to talk about his favorite band, his girlfriend and Frank Hamblen.
To watch, CLICK HERE.
Phil Jackson will remain in L.A. following Thursday evening’s game against the Denver Nuggets instead of accompanying the team on its road trip to Portland, due to pain and swelling in his lower right leg caused by plantar fasciitis.
To read the official news release, CLICK HERE.
FROM LAKERS.com
