Will Phil Jackson Get Fined For Taking This Stand?

[Now_Im_Not_Banned]

Jackson cries foul, but not loud enough

By Dan Wetzel, Yahoo! Sports 10 hours, 2 minutes ago

BOSTON – Phil Jackson had limped all the way from the Los Angeles Lakers’ locker room to the interview area, his aging hip bothering him almost as much as the huge free-throw disparity that had helped the Boston Celtics to a 108-102 victory Sunday and a 2-0 lead in the NBA Finals.

Jackson had passed Celtics coach Doc Rivers in a back hallway and offered not a word of congratulations or even a friendly “good game” as Doc had offered him. He merely pointed his finger and said, “See you in L.A.” He clearly wasn’t happy.

Jackson had finally taken a spot behind a podium that allowed his hip some relief and right away it looked like he was coming hard, the only question whether he wanted the $25,000 fine or the $50,000 one for blasting the referees.

His Lakers hadn’t lost because they couldn’t get a call – soft defense, offensive confusion in the third quarter and, of course, Celtics excellence can’t be overlooked. Jackson knew that. It’s never just about the officials, even with Boston having a 38-10 edge at the foul line.

Still, this is when Jackson historically stands strong for his guys. This is when he’s one of the last coaches in the NBA willing to fight for his players, nine NBA championships providing all the gravitas needed.

What were you most struck by in the game, Jackson was asked, your fourth-quarter rally or your three quarters of futility?

He just laughed and here we went, right?

“I’m more struck by the fact that Leon Powe gets more foul shots than our whole team does in (Powe’s) 14 minutes of play,” Jackson said, even mispronouncing the Celtic forward’s name to add insult to his 13-10 free throw edge. “That’s ridiculous.

“You can’t play from a deficit like that; that we had in that half, 19-2 in the first half. I’ve never seen a game like that in all these years I’ve coached in the Finals. Unbelievable.”

First question and Jackson was ready to roll. Until, suddenly, he wasn’t.

Somewhere in that old coaching playbook he wanted to make this about the officials, about all those extra free throws, about the foul trouble that cut some starters’ minutes, about the point in the third quarter when Boston had shot 26 free throws to L.A.’s two. He wanted to make it loud and clear that this would change in L.A., maybe summon the old us-against-the-world mindset for his guys.

And then something stopped him from doing it.

Jackson was as embarrassed of the Lakers’ effort as his players should have been, recognizing that his team was painfully soft and distracted. Powe played a fine game, but without the Lakers’ half-hearted efforts – most memorably on Powe’s fullcourt, uncontested drive and dunk in the third quarter – the second-year forward out of Cal is still an anonymous bench player, not a budding Finals hero.

Somewhere, Jackson looked like a coach wondering about his team’s spine. And no one wants to fully extend their neck for such a group.

“I kept telling my team, ‘We just can’t play worse than this,’  ” Jackson said.

Can a coach really go to the wall after admitting that? After getting burned by Leon Powe (21 points) and Rajon Rondo (16 assists)?

And if Jackson was hesitating, then is L.A. in every bit the trouble the 0-2 deficit suggests?

“I think my players got fouled, I have no question about the fact my players got fouled and didn’t get to the line,” Jackson said. “Specifically I can enumerate a few things, but I’m not going to get into that.”

In the past, with a different team, in a different situation he might have gotten into that. If these were the Jordan Bulls or the Kobe-Shaq Lakers, there might have been some enumerating.

Instead he backed off and went with a halfway complaint that mirrored his team’s halfway performance. He talked about a lack of aggressiveness and about poor spacing allowing fouls to be hidden by bodies. He gave the refs their excuses.

Jackson rightfully knew this game was lost when Powe cruised through the middle of the Lakers’ defense, when Boston was playing its best and most balanced ball of these long playoffs. He couldn’t pretend it was when Kobe was getting rung up for a technical for complaining.

“We just had to make a stand a little bit,” offered Bryant on the technical he received from referee Dan Crawford. “Guys were getting hit going to the basket and not always being called.”

And so that was what was left; the players having to enumerate a few things themselves. The coach either wouldn’t or couldn’t completely play along.

“You can’t do anything because if you do anything they’re going to go to the line,” said Sasha Vujacic. “We went to line 10 times. It will be a different story in L.A.”

Will it? It’s not just the refs who must change. It’s the Lakers themselves.

They can’t go away from the triangle for long stretches. They can’t settle for jumpers. They can’t let uncontested dunks rain down without someone in green hitting the deck. They can’t dig a massive hole that made a brilliant comeback meaningless. They can’t let an Eastern Conference team win based on that old toughness stereotype.

“They were more physical than us,” Luke Walton admitted.

Mostly, though, they can’t play so weakly for such long stretches – “we just can’t play any worse” – that their own famously fearless coach can’t even muster the outrage to make a monster issue of a whopping 28 free-throw deficit.

Because if Phil Jackson isn’t fully convinced about his Lakers at this point, who should be?




I say $50,000.

[eS El Duque]

Jackson was as embarrassed of the Lakers’ effort as his players should have been, recognizing that his team was painfully soft and distracted. Powe played a fine game, but without the Lakers’ half-hearted efforts – most memorably on Powe’s fullcourt, uncontested drive and dunk in the third quarter – the second-year forward out of Cal is still an anonymous bench player, not a budding Finals hero.

[Now_Im_Not_Banned]

Jackson was as embarrassed of the Lakers’ effort as his players should have been, recognizing that his team was painfully soft and distracted. Powe played a fine game, but without the Lakers’ half-hearted efforts – most memorably on Powe’s fullcourt, uncontested drive and dunk in the third quarter – the second-year forward out of Cal is still an anonymous bench player, not a budding Finals hero.

yup.

[GangstaBoogy]

Probably. Either way I'm glad he spoke up. We were playing weak ball in the beginning but when 3 of your starters have 2 fouls in the first quarter you can't develop a rhythm. Bad calls go a long way.

[Turf Hitta]

Probably. But who cares? This aint a big surprise. He's a known crybaby when he loses big games. Its never his fault its always somebody else. I don't wanna come off as a Laker hater cause thats not the case, I just really find all of this stuff extremely ironic. When the Lakers are the beneficiaries of these types of things nobody in the entire Laker nation has a word to whisper in your ear about it. When its the other way around its the biggest travesty in the history of sports.

[WestCoasta]

^  I've never seen a more obvious hater than you 

what Phil said is absolutely true, to dispute it you'd be a retard, Laker hater or not

"Powe gets more foul shots (13) than our whole team does (10) in 14 minutes"

how does that not sum up the game for you?

yeah, as an honest fan (unlike most), the Lakers have gotten the benificiaries before

but we're talking about something so lopsided, in a Finals game, the biggest series the league has had in years

and it's going to come down to having one team complain about foul calls?  this shouldn't even be an issue

when a defender is under the basket with his arms and fingers straight up to the sky, without leaving his feet might I add

and the guy with the ball intentionally jumps up and buries his shoulder into the defenders chest, the foul isn't on the defender 

so they call these things and not traveling for some reason

the point that really made me angry was when Pierce hit a 3 to put them up 7, then Rondo rammed Gasol and stripped him
(not a foul, but if you want pussy b-ball that whistle needs to be blown)

down the court, pass for 3 pointer - in no less than 10 seconds it went from a 4 point to a 10 point game, that's nice...

[Turf Hitta]

^  I've never seen a more obvious hater than you 

what Phil said is absolutely true, to dispute it you'd be a retard, Laker hater or not

"Powe gets more foul shots (13) than our whole team does (10) in 14 minutes"

how does that not sum up the game for you?

yeah, as an honest fan (unlike most), the Lakers have gotten the benificiaries before

but we're talking about something so lopsided, in a Finals game, the biggest series the league has had in years

and it's going to come down to having one team complain about foul calls?  this shouldn't even be an issue

when a defender is under the basket with his arms and fingers straight up to the sky, without leaving his feet might I add

and the guy with the ball intentionally jumps up and buries his shoulder into the defenders chest, the foul isn't on the defender 

so they call these things and not traveling for some reason

the point that really made me angry was when Pierce hit a 3 to put them up 7, then Rondo rammed Gasol and stripped him
(not a foul, but if you want pussy b-ball that whistle needs to be blown)

down the court, pass for 3 pointer - in no less than 10 seconds it went from a 4 point to a 10 point game, that's nice...

I'm not a hater at all. I'm as unbiased as can be. I don't care about either one of these teams or the players on them. the same can not be said about you or any other Laker freak on the board. You love the "pussy basketball" as you put it, when the Lakers get the calls but hate it when the other team gets the calls. Phil Jackson is known for whining like a baby when he loses and acting like a basketball god when he wins due to calls going his way. This is nothing new for him.

[WestCoasta]

since when am I a Laker freak?  I'm just a casual fan, you'd see that if you've been around

"Powe gets more foul shots (13) than our whole team does (10) in 14 minutes"

how does that not sum up the game for you?

this is all I can leave you with...

 no matter what stats you try to bring up, what Laker game 6 years ago had a few bad calls

that quote is my argument... to not see how dumb of a game it was you have to be ignorant

[Turf Hitta]

since when am I a Laker freak?  I'm just a casual fan, you'd see that if you've been around

"Powe gets more foul shots (13) than our whole team does (10) in 14 minutes"

how does that not sum up the game for you?

this is all I can leave you with...

 no matter what stats you try to bring up, what Laker game 6 years ago had a few bad calls

that quote is my argument... to not see how dumb of a game it was you have to be ignorant

Powe went strong to the rim blowing past his defender, leaving somebody else to clean up the mess on multiple possessions. This led to fouls. This is what led to his high amount of free throws. Satisfied?

[Now_Im_Not_Banned]

^LMAO...You have to be one big fucking idiot if you really think Powe drew more fouls than all of the Lakers in only 14 minutes of play.

[Turf Hitta]

^LMAO...You have to be one big fucking idiot if you really think Powe drew more fouls than all of the Lakers in only 14 minutes of play.

And you have to be one big fucking idiot if you don't know by now that as a general rule the more aggressive team gets the benefit of the whistle. Powe was more aggressive in his limited minutes than anybody on the Laker roster pure and simple.

[Now_Im_Not_Banned]

^LMAO...You have to be one big fucking idiot if you really think Powe drew more fouls than all of the Lakers in only 14 minutes of play.

And you have to be one big fucking idiot if you don't know by now that as a general rule the more aggressive team gets the benefit of the whistle. Powe was more aggressive in his limited minutes than anybody on the Laker roster pure and simple.

Yea...Powe is just a beast, man! No way does it have anything to do with the refs calling it one sided!!!


LMAO

[Turf Hitta]

^LMAO...You have to be one big fucking idiot if you really think Powe drew more fouls than all of the Lakers in only 14 minutes of play.

And you have to be one big fucking idiot if you don't know by now that as a general rule the more aggressive team gets the benefit of the whistle. Powe was more aggressive in his limited minutes than anybody on the Laker roster pure and simple.

Yea...Powe is just a beast, man! No way does it have anything to do with the refs calling it one sided!!!


LMAO

He certainly was yesterday. good enough to be voted player of the game in a game which featured Bryant, Odom, Gasol, Garnett, Pierce and Allen.

BTW, way to disregard the point

[Now_Im_Not_Banned]

Yea, your stupid point was that Boston was more aggressive...only your dumbass forgot to read the box score. The Lakers took more than twice as many shots in the paint. Boston wasn't more aggressive. Boston was ALLOWED more aggression...That's the whole point.

[Turf Hitta]

Yea, your stupid point was that Boston was more aggressive...only your dumbass forgot to read the box score. The Lakers took more than twice as many shots in the paint. Boston wasn't more aggressive. Boston was ALLOWED more aggression...That's the whole point.

No. You still need basic comprehension skills. My point was that LEON POWE individually got that many FTs because of his aggressive play. The Lakers had more fg attempts, so what? The vast majority of those were contested jump shots from 13'+ out. They didn't attack the basket like Boston (Powe in particular) did.