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After a long time without a ring, a seven year drought that saw a number of unfortunate events for LA Lakers star guard Kobe Bryant, he and "the zen master" , his coach Phil Jackson, who had to wonder if he's ever see the winning side of an NBA Finals contest, won the NBA Championship in fine fashion, defeating the Orlando Magic in five games, winning the last one tonight 99-86. It's the Lakers' 15th NBA title, Jackson's 10th, and Bryant's fourth, and certainly the sweetest.
Kobe gets his ring!
First, hats off to the Magic, who made it thrilling with two overtime games and heroic play down the stretch from center Dwight Howard, but in the end, the Lakers will was too much for the Magic to overcome.
The Lakers, and indeed, Bryant and Jackson, wanted to erase all of the bad feelings from the total beat-down the Boston Celtics gave to them last year and from the equally abusive talk aimed at Bryant from former teammate Shaq O'Neal, who left the Lakers and almost immediately won a title with the Miami Heat, then rubbed it in Bryant's face, almost on an annual basis.
No more.
Bryant played with a scowl on his face and something to prove. And he did. That he's a complete player. A mature person. A father. A community leader. And a nice person. That he did it with Phil Jackson as his coach comes as no surprise, but for a time it seemed Jackson was to be religated to the "used to" bin, as in, "he used to be a great coach." Hey, let's give credit to Lakers General Manager Mitch Kupchek for the acquisition of Pau Gasol who filled in the missing piece as "enforcer" and for adding Derek Fisher, who's clutch "threes" were the difference in two finals games, but Jackson put them all together then stepped back and let them play.
Fisher said it best about Jackson after the last game on ABC: "He let's players play." Jackson doesn't try to control his players, he treats them as men and as talented athletes. He gives them an open canvas on which to paint, and his players created a masterpiece of a win. It's for that reason Jackson's the greatest coach in NBA history.
The zen master is back.
UPDATE: on his (verified) Twitter account twitter.com/THE_REAL_SHAQ, Shaq O'Neal was active to be sure. After the Lakers won he posted this:
O'Neal also tweeted that he's not leaving the Phoenix Suns for Cleveland and Le Bron James.
