NBA Obsessed takes you into the hit and run game of NBA Basketball.

Phil Jackson is the best coach in the game today.

You want proof. 10 NBA Titles.

Big deal, you say? How about 10 out of the last 19? Now that is incredible.

Stuart Scott interviews Phil Jackson

With this last title, Phil Jackson has become the NBA coach with the most NBA titles passing Red Auerbach of the Boston Celtics and Phil did it in the age of the free agent.

Those are staggering statistics, especially in this era of free agency, expansion and the salary cap.

Still, there will always be some - like the late Auerbach - who say that Jackson has only won with ready-made championship teams.

Jackson’s current superstar, Kobe Bryant, laughed at that notion Saturday.

“I can’t name one coach that won a championship with a bunch of scrubs, so that argument makes no sense,” Bryant said.

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Phil Jackson has left the game before and Read more

NBA Obsessed takes you into the hit and run game of NBA Basketball.

The NBA Title series ain’t what it used to be, by 10% to be exact. Ratings were down 10 percent according to an AP article in ESPN.

At first blush that seems kind of bad for a series featuring Phil Jackson going for his 10th coaching title and Kobe Bryant trying to prove he can be a one man band, but it has to be kept in the context of being compared to last year’s dream matchup of the Celtics and Lakers.

Dwight Howard and Pau Gasol did not have people turning on their TV's

Boston brought in Kevin Garnett and had a title starved large market in Boston. The Boston area has won in all other sports and they were ready for an NBA title. The Orlando market is a smaller area and Dwight Howard is less of a draw than the 3 amigos. That may change as Dwight improves, but it is fact for now.
Photo source Newscom

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NBA Obsessed takes you into the hit and run game of NBA Basketball.

Why do you doubt this guy year after year, thinking he can’t coach his way out of a paper box unless he has a superstar box cutter on his team. That is the excuse you have used for years. Oh, Phil, he has that superstar player, that is why he wins.

The only problem with that argument is the other coach, the one coaching the team Phil is beating, also has a superstar player on his team and he is losing. Meanwhile, Phil just keeps on winning and it looks like the Lakers led by a superstar named Kobe Bryant, will win the NBA title for Phil.

Kobe Bryant believes in Phil Jackson

So can Phil coach? You bet he can.

When Orlando’s Dwight Howard missed his two free throws near the end of regulation, Jackson, his Lakers down by three points, chose to inbound the ball and have the Lakers go the length of the court. He figured that an inbounds pass at midcourt would likely have drawn an immediate foul.

Going all the way down the court, the Lakers were able to get the ball in to Bryant, then to Ariza and then to Fisher.

“I do think some of it the credit does belong outside of myself, to my teammates, to Phil,” Fisher said. “Just the way that he’s willing to stick with certain people that he believes can help get the job done. It’s not always about statistically what is this guy going to bring to the table.

“A lot of coaches won’t have that kind of faith, confidence, that kind of perseverance to figure he’ll be rewarded in the end. Phil doesn’t have to say anything to me. We’ve been together a long time, been through a lot of games. We understand.”

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Photo source Newscom

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NBA Obsessed takes you into the hit and run game of NBA Basketball.

Pau Gasol scoring again

So what, they lined up all the internationally born NBA players and raced and Pau Gasol was the eighth fastest?

No, more like he is the 8th fastest European to get to 10,000 points in the NBA.

Pau Gasol shows more of his offensive creativity, and against Utah he reached the 10,000-point plateau for his career. Dirk Nowitzki, Peja Stojakovic and Vlade Divac are the only other Europeans to get there after having come to the NBA directly from overseas.

Only 286 players overall in league history have scored 10,000 points, and Gasol is the eighth-fastest (in terms of games played) internationally born player to get there.

And obviously Gasol isn’t done.

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Laker coach Phil Jackson says Pau has a great chance of joining him and Kobe Bryant on the All Star team.

Photo source Newscom

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NBA Obsessed takes you into the hit and run game of NBA Basketball.

Boston Celtics rule the world or at least the NBA World.

Paul Pierce is MVP and played fantastic.

Kevin Garnett reminds us that anything is possible.

Defense rules and the Lakers better get one.

Redlasso gives us this video from after the final seconds.

source RedLasso

Kevin Garnett was so emotional that he was crying one moment and shouting out the next moment. Boston absolutely dominated the last game of the series.

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NBA Obsessed takes you into the hit and run game of NBA Basketball.

Paul Pierce cannot be stopped. Not by Kobe. Not by anyone.

Image details: NBA Finals Game 6: Los Angeles Lakers v Boston Celtics served by picapp.com

Sam Posey or SAM missile. He just keeps burying 3’s.

Paul Pierce, not Kevin Garnett. It is the Paul Pierce series. Hey, Kevin is averaging a double double, but it does not matter. Paul Pierce is dominating.

Pierce had waited for his chance to be one of those generational Boston sports icons, and the Celtics had stopped surrounding him with a fighting chance. It was getting late in his prime, late in his patience. He watched Tom Brady win his Super Bowls and David Ortiz his World Series, and he could take it no more. This town is the best in the world for winners, and just the worst for everyone else.

These forever New England stars are remembered for the most clutch championship performances. Pierce was the forgotten, dismissed talent, a victim of unfair circumstance when the city never had less tolerance for losing causes.

Suddenly now, Pierce returns for Game 6 in these NBA Finals on Tuesday within a victory of a championship, within a whisper of his wildest dreams. Maybe the regular season belonged to Kevin Garnett for the Celtics, but the playoffs belong to Pierce. History is closing fast.

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Phil Jackson has a pink top of his head. What is that?

Pau Gasol racks up the stats, but plays soft most of the time. Lakers need Andrew Bynum.

Kobe Bryant can’t score on 5 Celtics at once. They are playing great defense. Kobe will get his, but it will take a lot of shots.

Boston by 23. Is this a series of big leads by both teams or what?

Ray Allen had his eye poked in the first quarter and has done nothing since.

Halftime.

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NBA Obsessed takes you into the hit and run game of NBA Basketball.

Paul Pierce, with a lot of help, put the clamps on Kobe Bryant

Image details: NBA Finals Game 4: Boston Celtics v Los Angeles Lakers served by picapp.com

The Lakers are done. They had a 24 point lead in the second quarter over the Boston Celtics.

Even in the 3rd quarter the Celtics were down 20 points.

Then the Lakers stopped scoring.

What was it? It was Celtic defense and Paul Pierce scoring.

It didn’t help that Kobe was being locked down by Pierce. Kobe just could not get his jumper going at all. Every time Kobe drove to the middle of the floor, he was met with a welcoming committee from Boston and most of the time had to pass off to an outside shooter. That is fine, but then the Celtics would recover fast enough to cover the outside shooter as well.

Sam Posey made a couple of clutch 3 pointers late in the game and had 18 points. It seems that there is a new Boston bench star in every game.

Kevin Garnett had a very quiet 16 points and 11 boards. Paul Pierce was very dynamic especially late in the game with 20 points in spite of missing all 3 of his 3 pointers.

Kendrick Perkins left the game with a strained shoulder. We will have to wait and see how bad that is. Paul Pierce tweaked his ankle late in the game, but continued to play.

The Lakers wasted a brilliant game by Lamar Odom, who had 19 points on 8 for 11 shooting and 10 boards.

At one point in the third quarter, they flashed a graphic saying the Lakers had missed 9 shots in a row.

Where do the Lakers go from here? Game 5 is in LA and then the last two games are in Boston. No team has ever come back from a 3 -1 deficit. It is hard to imagine the Lakers winning the next 3 games with 2 of them in Boston.

It will be interesting to see the two team’s mindset for game 5.

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NBA Obsessed takes you into the hit and run game of NBA Basketball.

Kobe Bryant walked off with a victory in game 3 of the NBA Finals

Image details: NBA Finals Game 3: Boston Celtics v Los Angeles Lakers served by picapp.com

Kobe was cool and calm and had an excellent game.

Los Angeles Lakers 87, Boston Celtics 81

Bryant scored 36 points with an MVP-worthy performance; Sasha Vujacic added 20 points and the Lakers, teetering on the brink of falling into an impossible hole in the NBA finals, beat the Boston Celtics 87-81 in Game 3 on Tuesday night.

L.A.’s brightest sports star, Bryant was California cool.

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This took the pressure off his teammates and they also played excellent ball.

Vujacic, the self-proclaimed “Machine,” made three 3-pointers, including a crucial one from the left corner with 1:53 left that gave the Lakers an 81-76 lead. Pau Gasol finally flexed his muscles with two inside baskets in the fourth quarter and Derek Fisher, who took an $8 million pay cut to come back and play for the Lakers, made two free throws with 1:33 remaining as the Lakers held on.

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Meanwhile the Boston 3 party was going solo with only Ray Allen showing up.

But it took everything they had to keep that streak alive as the Celtics, two wins from their 17th NBA title but only 2-8 on the road in this postseason, made the Lakers play a more physical, Eastern Conference-style game and nearly walked away with a win.

Ray Allen scored 25 points—15 on 3-pointers—for the Celtics, but only one-third of Boston’s Big Three showed up.

Kevin Garnett scored 13 points on just 6-of-21 shooting and Paul Pierce, playing a short drive from his childhood home, had only six points, missed 12 shots and was in foul trouble all night.

Game 4 is Thursday night.

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Paul Pierce? Kobe Bryant? It looks like Leon Powe is the man as he is getting triple teamed by the Lakers!

Image details: NBA Finals Game 1: Los Angeles Lakers v Boston Celtics served by picapp.com

If you did not see this game, you would not believe it.

Boston dominated this game up until the last 7 minutes. The Celtics were up by over 20 points. Paul Pierce was scoring like crazy. Rajon Rondo was dishing assists like Bob Cousy. The Celtic Defense was shutting down the Lakers and frustrating Kobe Bryant. Boston was shooting so many free throws that the game lasted forever.

Then the Lakers caught fire!

They went on a 27 - 9 run and cut the lead to 4.

Boston had to call a time out and go back to Paul Pierce. It has been the Paul Pierce show and not the Kevin Garnett show so far. Paul’s knee appears to be fine. His ability to score is even better.

Paul drove to the hole off of a Kevin Garnett screen (since when did he become a screener in clutch situations?) and tried an up and under move that was fouled. Two foul shots later the Celtics led by 6 with 12 seconds to go.

LA called a timeout and ran a play at their end of the court. Kobe Bryant did not touch the ball. Pau Gasol could not find him. The Lakers missed. Paul Pierce actually blocked the shot and Boston won the game.

Paul Pierce, darting around the parquet floor with ease, scored 28 points, Boston’s defense mobbed Kobe Bryant long enough and unknown Leon Powe scored 21 points as the Celtics held off a remarkable Los Angeles rally for a 108-102 win over the Lakers on Sunday night. The Celtics have a 2-0 lead in these trip-down-memory-lane NBA finals.

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Leon Powe

Wait a minute, Leon Powe had 21 points. Leon who? Powe had more free throw attempts than the Lakers 13 to 10. Now this was Leon who?

They asked Phil Jackson what he took from the game more, the Celtic defense for 3 quarters or the offensive surge of the Lakers late in the game and he responded with “Leon Powe getting more free throws than his whole team. That is ridiculous.” Phil could not really talk about the referees directly, but the message was clear.

Boston benefitted from 38 free throws to LA’s 10. Talk about your home court advantage!

Now the series goes to LA and we will see what the Lakers are made of. Typically a series goes to the home teams for a while when they are evenly matched.

We will see if Boston can steal one in LA.

NBA Obsessed takes you into the hit and run game of NBA Basketball.

Let’s back up and look at Doug Collins.

My early memories were of Doug playing for the 76er’s, swooping to the hole and making a layup or drilling jumper after jumper. He played on the great Dr. J’s teams. He averaged over 17 points a game for his career.

Doug also played on the Olympic team that the Russians beat after the ref’s kept giving them do over’s until they scored the winning basket. Ok, so that one still bothers me. You can’t let everything go.

After retiring as a player, Doug went on to coaching. He got his first walking papers as Michael Jordan’s stubborn coach.

“We knocked heads early,” Collins said at the time. “I was 35, had never been a head coach before, was going to roll up my sleeves to show everybody that I could get the job done. I wanted to do things my way.”

Collins was fired and replaced by Phil Jackson, whose first team also lost to Detroit in the conference finals, 4-3. The following season the Bulls broke through, sweeping the Pistons 4-0 and going on to the first of six championships in the 90s with Jordan and Scottie Pippen leading the way. In 1995-96, they finished 72-10 as what many consider to be the greatest NBA team of all time.

Collins accepted his second head coaching job in 1995 and worked 2 1/2 seasons with the Pistons, going 46-36, 54-28 and 21-24 before he was let go amid reports his style caused friction with some of his players.

He was 37-45 in both seasons in Washington but couldn’t get the Wizards into the playoffs. He was fired shortly after Jordan was denied a return to the front office.

Collins’ overall record is 332-287 and 15-23 in the postseason.

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Here is a YouTube breaking the Chicago Bulls news of hiring Doug Collins.

Now being a huge Piston fans, the early Chicago years were followed and the Piston years were followed. Doug was tough, demanding, and a my way or the highway guy. He could make a weak team strong, but could not make a good team great.

Speaking of great, after a while Doug grated on you and you did not want to play for him anymore.

Now after Chicago experienced the tough, demanding, my way or the highway Scott Skiles, why would they sign Doug Collins?

The Bulls and Collins, who coached a young Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen before the 1990s dynasty took off, acknowledged Thursday discussing a return engagement. The sides also said there would be more talks once Collins’ obligations with TNT ended, which happened when the Los Angeles Lakers eliminated the San Antonio Spurs in the Western Conference finals that night.

And Collins was adamant during a pregame interview with TNT: “I have not been offered. I have not accepted.”

On Friday, general manager John Paxson did not return a call to his cell phone, and Collins’ representative John Langel declined comment. A message seeking comment was left Friday night on Collins’ cell phone.

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The Bulls will have the number one pick in the draft, probably Derrick Rose of Memphis.

Does this sound like a do over of young Michael Jordan and Doug Collins?

Only Derrick Rose is not Michael Jordan and young Doug Collins had better not be old Doug Collins!

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