Phil Should Ride Into Sunset if He Wins Title No. 10

LOS ANGELES -- It's almost a cliche the way he has embraced his every locale, living not only the dream but the time and the place. The world's most interesting man? Rather than that phony-suave goofball in the Dos Equis ads, I'll nominate Phil Jackson, who morphed from a free-love, New York hippie in the '70s to a Midwestern family guy in the '90s before migrating to California and -- what else? -- shacking up with the boss' much-younger daughter in a house by the sea.

Amid his radical lifestyle shifting, he has found time to become the gold standard of modern coaches in pro sports, now approaching his 10th NBA title in a career that looked bleak when he was coaching the minor-league Albany Patroons and driving their van on road trips. You hate to tell a legend when it's time to retire, especially when he's at the top of his game. But the perfect ending for Jackson would be to let the purple-and-gold confetti fall on his silver mane, celebrate his fourth crown in 10 years with the Lakers, appreciate his psychological work in transforming Kobe Bryant from a superbrat to an all-time maestro and depart in style as the league's ultimate coaching champion.

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A town that grasps the famous final scene is sensing that Jackson indeed will leave if the Lakers, as expected, purge the Orlando Magic in the Finals. Bryant, too, is anticipating high drama. "I try not to think too much about it and just try to focus on the task at hand, which is one of the things that he has taught us all," he says.

"I'm just honored to be coached by the best coach of all time. It would be a tremendous honor to be on the team that can get him that 10th championship."

The symbolism of going out on top would be particularly important in Jackson's case. Perhaps it will serve to jolt the national consciousness into finally giving him his just due. Imagine 10 titles in 18 seasons. Who else does that? His critics -- including the late Red Auerbach, currently tied with Jackson atop the coaching title list with nine -- have said he's little more than a lucky opportunist privileged to coach Michael Jordan for six rings in Chicago and Shaquille O'Neal and Bryant for three in L.A. "He picks his spots. He had Jordan and Shaq," snorted Auerbach. I've never understood the thought process, other than to assume Red's logic was clouded in cigar smoke. Back in Auerbach's day with the Celtics, the NBA wasn't complicated by free agency and a salary cap that broke up teams and required creative maneuvers by general managers. He could keep his dynasty together for a longer period -- a run that included Hall of Famers, by the way, including a certain Bill Russell.

Jackson's path has been trickier, filled with challenges that would have vexed most coaches. With the Bulls, it took considerable time to convince Jordan that he wouldn't win titles until he compromised his ego and melded with teammates. Later, Phil had to manage the wildest entertainment extravaganza in sports, the Jordan rock show that included a petulant Scottie Pippen and a half-insane Dennis Rodman, who was wearing feather boas and getting drunk every other night. And don't forget the non-stop infighting with upper management, leading Jackson and Jordan to join forces and depart together because the bane of their existence, general manager Jerry Krause, was kept in power by owner Jerry Reinsdorf. Jackson took time off, then inherited in-house marital problems with O'Neal and Bryant, two supreme alpha males who couldn't stand each other yet somehow won three titles.


So why isn't Jackson lauded more for his handling of delicate, moody, superstar psyches? Isn't it the most vital function a coach can perform in this day and age? Yes, he has been blessed with megaplayers, but how many other coaches would have won 10 titles with all the chaos and headaches? How would Auerbach have handled Rodman, heaven help us?

Or the Shaq-Kobe warfare? Careful not to contradict what he tells his team -- live in the moment, don't get ahead of yourself -- Jackson deflects all talk of his place in history.

"It's just about this year," he says, "not about the 10th."

Doesn't he see the magnitude of such a feat, the cachet in owning 10 rings at a time when a coaching giant like Bill Belichick has only three and a managerial master like Joe Torre has four?

"One for each finger and two thumbs," he says, smiling.

He is determined not to let the Lakers fail in the Finals again, as they did last year in a humiliating loss to Boston and in 2004 against Detroit. I was among those who asked if Jackson contributed to his team's soft, passive play against the physical Celtics -- and whether his mastery of the modern player's mind had waned at 63 years of age. Turns out he was doubting himself, too. "As far as getting there and not winning, it was a very big disappointment. Huge. We feel like we failed our team," he said of his only two Finals flops after nine consecutive victories in the title round. "Maybe I forgot something, and that's the reason why we lost two."

But the state of the Lakers is healthy today after a thundering two-game rally to eliminate the Denver Nuggets in the Western Conference finals, followed by a 25-point stomping of the clueless, listless Magic Thursday night in Game 1. If Jackson freely admits the Lakers "weren't prepared" for the Celtics last June, he has them performing this time at their optimum level. That's what the greatest coaches do, pace their teams for the monstrous finish and endgame, and I can't help but think back to Jackson's reaction during the Houston series when L.A. was panicking about a Game 7. "I'm not concerned," he said. Since then, they've won six of eight games behind a smothering defense and the intensity of Bryant, whose fire was evident Thursday in his teeth-baring facial expressions. Some Kobe-haters think he was acting for the TV cameras. No one in the Hollywood crowd, from Denzel to Jack to Tobey Maguire to Leonardo DiCaprio, can act that well.

This was the consummate Bryant, which represents Jackson's best work of all in my opinion. In Jordan, he had a mature competitor who knew how to channel his cutthroat instincts and make everyone else better. In O'Neal, he had a dominant big man who couldn't be stopped.

Kobe was a different animal. He was sulky and aloof, jealous of O'Neal and just immature enough to let his behavior poison the team. Then came the Colorado rape case. And the departures of O'Neal and Jackson, who wrote a book and ripped Bryant as impossible to coach. People forget that Phil was more or less canned in 2004 by Lakers owner Jerry Buss, even though Buss' daughter, 47-year-old Jeanie, has been Jackson's significant other since he arrived in 2000. Must have been a hoot at Thanksgiving dinner that year.

"I came back, at the behest of the Buss family, to coach this team back into playoff contention," Jackson said. "Every night, we give ourselves a chance to win. So that's been really the blessing of coming back and having this opportunity again, to see this team come out from the ashes and become a dominant team in the league again."

He applied the Jordan lessons in helping Bryant maximize his greatness and grow up as a player and person. "What Phil did with Michael, I'm sure it helped in dealing with me. He already was around the block once," Bryant said. It's hard to believe, watching Kobe drop 40 on the Magic in a memorable Game 1 show, that Jackson was calling him "a callous gun for hire" only five years ago.


If he once was overly demanding in practice and demonstrative on the sideline, Jackson clearly has calmed down later in life. Part of it is common sense based on health concerns, including two hip replacement operations. That doesn't mean he can't get fired up, proving it in the Denver series by ripping the officiating and demanding more "transparency" among the league's working refs.

He also has his fun. Before and after each game, it seems, Jackson is drawn into a battle of wits with Los Angeles Times columnist T.J. Simers. Sometimes, Simers coaxes powerful answers out of him, such as a torching of the refs after Game 4 of the Denver series. Other times, Simers is just another wannabe standup comedian.

T.J.: "I was watching JeanieVision (on Lakers.com), and I noticed you were rather brief with her before Game 5. I was wondering if you were starting to think of her as a reporter ...?"

P.J.: "Ah, there was a mitigating circumstance."

T.J.: "Do you think it's fair she gets more access than we do?"

P.J.: "Yes, I do."

To be sure, Jackson is having more fun than Magic coach Stan Van Gundy, who now is dealing with a controversy involving the force-fed return of injured All-Star Jameer Nelson in Game 1. Behind starting point guard Rafer Alston, the Magic had the lead after a quarter. Van Gundy replaced him with Nelson and, strangely, let Nelson play the entire second quarter while the Lakers took the lead. It had an obvious effect on team chemistry, and Friday, Alston was left scratching his head.

"It was odd. I mean, I think everyone can see that. That's unusual to start the game and then you don't even touch the court in the second quarter," Alston said. "But there's no pouting, there's no getting mad, there's going to be no coach and Alston meeting about it.

"I'm going to go out here and get ready for Game 2 and prepare myself like I have been all playoffs."

Van Gundy, in yet another acknowledgment of a coaching mistake, admitted he left Nelson in the game too long. But when told of Alston's comments, including one in which he blamed his 0-for-5 shooting in the second half on the second-quarter sitdown, the coach fired back.

"We've got to give Jameer shorter stints," Van Gundy said."I may have overplayed him and he got tired. As far as Rafer, having that affect his play in the second half, that's up to him. If I'm looking from the outside, that sounds like an excuse to me."

Rafer? "I'll give you a good excuse," Alston said. "I sat 12 minutes of real game time, I sat about 30 minutes of real life time. So there's an excuse. It's different. I don't care who it is, it's different. You sit for a long period of time and again, and the third quarter felt like jump tip again for me because now I've got to catch up to the rest of the guys because they already have a rhythm."

If it didn't have the resounding impact of Dwight Howard's rip job on Van Gundy in the Boston series, when he demanded more touches and suggested the coach was asleep, this was the latest in a long series of Van Gundy-aimed criticisms. Jackson has no such concerns. His players are at peace, knowing his teams are 43-for-43 in postseason series after winning Game 1. This is what you'd call a coaching mismatch.

"His bad hips might even it up a little, but probably not enough to make a difference," Van Gundy said. "The guy has won more playoff series than I have won playoff games. I'm here for the first time. He's obviously one of the greatest coaches, if not the greatest coach, in the history of the NBA."

The disclaimer isn't necessary. Phil Jackson, who started his journey in Montana as the son of Christian fundamentalists, is unequivocally the greatest coach in NBA history. If and when he wins his one for the other thumb, he can thumb his nose at Red and wave goodbye to the world.

There will be nothing more to accomplish.