Phil Jackson is a good coach
Published by The Cavalier April 27th, 2006 in Coaches, Phoenix Suns, Kobe Bryant, LA Lakers
Last night was pretty amazing, and not just because of People Magazine explanding their list to 100 Beautiful people. (Surely we make that cut-off!)
Not only did Kobe Bryant stay within this new-style Laker gameplan, taking only 24 shots, but LA managed to win the game in convincing fashion. Kobe is all Mr. Team now, and it’s fascinating to watch.
“It’s just reading the tempo of the game,” Bryant said. “Reading the defense and attacking teams as a unit. What we did this season, everybody was … trying to learn the offense. [Coach] Phil [Jackson] and I both knew I was going to have to shoulder the scoring load. In the playoffs, everybody has a rhythm for the game. We just started attacking teams as a unit, not me going out there and trying to score 40 or 50 points.”
Who is this guy? Charley Rosen says this is all the work of Phil Jackson, and we agree to some extent. While Kobe is the one out there actually playing, someone had to convince him to be the opposite of what he’s been for his entire life. We still think the Suns take this, but it’s a whole lot more interesting now.
Lost in all the fervor over winning, is the ongoing mystery of Kobe’s new number. Dude won’t talk about it until after the season. We’ll take that as a positive, because we suspect we’ll be forced to make fun of him for it, and frankly, the whole respect thing is more fun, at least for today.
Make Nash a scorer, slow down the tempo of the game, bang Marion down low with Lamar so he has nothing on offense, shut down the rest of the Suns. Brilliant! The most important aspect is the pace of the game. If they keep it at this pace they will win. The Suns can’t play halfcourt basketball and can’t run if the Lakers are banging them down low.
Hey guys, let’s get that thread going about how the Lakers are gonna lose game 2! Guys??? Why not?
I want to kill Joey Crawford.
nash is sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo ugly. good job kobe for cooling down nash. kobe i luv u