Phil, Kobe, and Lakers Win It All Again

With the NBA playoffs over and done with, the Los Angeles Lakers are world champions for the 15th time in franchise history. Head coach Phil Jackson captured his historic 10th title as a coach, and shooting guard Kobe Bryant won his fourth title.

The road to the championship was anything but easy.

After falling in the finals to the Celtics a season ago, the Lakers came back hungry to win the championship this year.

Following an opening series against the Utah Jazz, the Lakers fought through a tough seven game series against a tenacious Rockets team who weren’t intimated by the Western Conference favorites even after their superstar center Yao Ming went down.

Next, the Lakers beat the Denver Nuggets in six, and were right back to where they wanted to be, competing for a championship. But their work wasn’t done yet.

Magical Run

Being over looked going into the playoffs, the Orlando Magic began their run to finals by beating the Philadelphia 76ers in six games.

Next up for the Magic were the defending champion Boston Celtics. While the Celtics were without their defensive cornerstone and emotional leader, center Kevin Garnett, they took it to the Magic and went up 3–2 before Orlando reeled off two straight victories, including game seven in Boston.

Then came the Eastern Conference finals against LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers. While many had put the Cavs in the finals before the playoffs even began, they simply could not match up with the Magic and were defeated in five games.

The Finals

When it came to the championship, the Magic were facing a huge uphill battle.

Kobe Bryant was hungry for his fourth title, and the Lakers had the experience of making it to the finals a season earlier. They did not want to come up short again.

Orlando was blown out in Game 1 and in Game 5 en route to losing the series in five games, but they had their chances.

A Game 2 victory was a missed Courtney Lee lay-up away on a beautifully drawn up inbounds play that would have stolen home court advantage from L.A.

Game 4 was in the Magic’s hands until Dwight Howard missed two free throws. Derek Fischer followed up those misses with a three-pointer that Orlando point guard Jameer Nelson failed to defend properly.

That big three was the dagger in the Magic’s heart.

The Zen Master and Kobe

Following a loss in the finals in the 2003–04 season, head coach Phil Jackson left the Lakers amid the turmoil between the best big-little duo the game has ever seen in Shaq and Kobe.

With Kobe the only one remaining in L.A. in the 2004–05 season, he and his team struggled going 34–48 and missing the playoffs.

Then Jackson returned to a more mature Bryant, who would continue to mature under the veteran head coach.

From the hiatus to a world championship, the Zen Master sees his pupil in a completely different light.

When he first left, Jackson had labeled Bryant as “selfish” and “uncoachable.”

Now following a world championship where Kobe carried the load and was the leader, Jackson has a different view of the Lakers’ superstar.

“He’s learned how to become a leader in a way in which people want to follow him.

“That’s really important for him to have learned that because he knew that he had to give to get back in return, and so he’s become a giver rather than just a guy that’s a demanding leader,” Jackson said in a post-game interview. “That’s been great for him and great to watch.”

Bryant led his team throughout the playoffs with a scowl on his face and fire in his eyes. His intensity and will to win this championship were unmatched by anyone else in the playoffs.

With the mission accomplished, Bryant turned into all smiles in the waning seconds of the game and the post-game festivities.

“I was just completely locked in,” said Bryant of his focus and intensity. “I was grumpy for a while and now I’m just ecstatic, like a kid in a candy store.”

Jackson now stands alone as the winningest coach in NBA history with 10 titles, passing Celtic legend Red Auerbach.

Jackson said he would celebrate the occasion as only Red would.

“I’ll smoke the cigar in honor of Red tonight.”

Bryant also knows how special this championship was to his coach.

“He took his glasses off, threw his head back and soaked it all in because this is a special time,” Bryant said. “For us to be the team that got him that historic 10th championship is special for us.”


Matt Sugam also writes for The Daily Targum at Rutgers University.