Erik Spoelstra, Stan Van Gundy Respond to Phil Jackson

Phil Jackson is the GOAT at playing mind games.

Yeah, “Big Chief Triangle” and endless other snide remarks from JVG and Riley over the past decade were all figments of my imagination. Just because you havent heard of it, that doesnt mean Im making it up. So next time you feel like talking before thinking, dont. Put the computer down and go read a f*cking book.

Ah, it was Jeff. I knew it was him deep in my heart. Jeff Van Gundy is a funny dude.

Let me know when your intelligence wakes up.

Lebron all but said he wishes hed signed with the nets. Kobe all but said he was guilty of that colorado thing. Nash all but said he knows he didnt deserve those mvps. Lang all but said he is actually indeed black.

Sometimes, these threads are a clear-cut example of when free speech goes terribly wrong… And why kids shouldn’t be allowed to use computers without adult supervision.

What PJax did WAS gamesmanship. Those of you calling him a d-bag or an a-hole are the same ones who have identified themselves as LBJ groupies and Miami Heat bandwagon riders. There is a ton of pressure on this team — from the players to the coach — and so far, they’ve proven that they can’t handle it. Basketball is a mental game, and if you can get into someone’s head and get some kind of reaction out of them, then you’ve already beaten them. PJax is just adding on to the pressure that the Heat already feel because he knows what any “knowledgeable” basketball person knows about this team and that’s mentally, they can’t handle what they’ve assembled. Bron/Wade/Bosh aren’t wired for hate. They want everyone to like them. To love them. To cheer for them. They care about what people think about them evidenced by making themselves accessible via Twitter. They get hateful messages from people and then either retweet it for the world to see to try and rally support, and then they tweet some kind of philosophical gibberish about “haters.” These dudes are mentally fragile, anybody can see that. Additionally, the Heat as an organization put a ton of pressure on themselves by throwing that celebration this summer. The players put a lot of pressure on themselves at said celebration by predicting multiple titles (LeBron), and saying it would be easy on the floor (LeBron). I’ve said before that top to bottom, everybody in the Heat organization thought this was going to be an easy run. They clearly thought teams were going to roll over and had no inkling that people would not be “afraid” of them. They made this bed and now they have to lie in it. Like David Aldridge said: nobody is going to feel sorry for the Heat. I kind of got off track but back to Phil, he knows all of this. All he’s doing is adding on to the pressure that they already feel. And why should he care about taking shots at two guys who’ve won 11 less titles combined than he has? Especially when this is his last ride anyway. He’s flexing his muscle because he knows those guys can’t possibly say anything back. It’s smart, and he could care less about what people think or say about him. He’s made. The most decorated coach in the modern era. So if you can’t see that, and if you continue to take shots at Phil and not acknowledge the obvious, then it’s clear that you’re an apologist, a PJax hater, and you don’t know a whole lot about “gamesmanship” or basketball in my opinion.

Dudes. Are you f’ing SERIOUS?

1) Phil is right. Recent history has shown that, in general, if a coach isn’t perceived to be doing well enough given his roster (even considering injuries sometimes), that coach is fired.

I can’t count how many coaches in the last 10 years were fired, sometimes in very classless ways, because their teams were under-performing.

Phil’s just being realistic.

2) SVG and Spoelstra are just doing PR spin. It’s all they can do.

3) Phil is the greatest NBA coach of all time. All multi-championship coaches were gifted with great players, but not all coaches gifted with great players won multiple championships.

Phil’s perfect playoff record when his team wins game 1 is unreal. He never had a losing record in the NBA as a coach EVER, not even in the years Jordan was playing baseball, or before Jerry Buss managed to steal Pau when the Lakers actually had a so-so roster. He has NEVER been out of the playoffs. He has the best playoff winning percentage of all time.

And part of being a coach is letting your staff do their jobs. That’s what assistant coaches are for. Doc Rivers had Tom Thibodeau, for example, for defense.

Tex came up with Phil’s system, but that’s it. And quite frankly, ‘systems’ and x’s and o’s are over-rated in the NBA. Fundamentally, there really only a handful of plays and the rest are all minor variations – it’s far more important to be able to manage player and team confidence, morale and effort. Nobody does that better than Phil.

The only coach that has close to as many wins was Red, and he had less teams to play against, at least as great a concentration of talent as Phil ever had, and also had the strong arm of being GM for the team.

You can’t even say that Phil always got ready-made championship teams. A number of young players that were so-so improved greatly while under Phil.

The 18lb mass of dook in my depends has begun to leak. Who wants turkey?

JTaylor u need to stfu

Truth Hurts!!

Well, Spoelstra’s probably sweating a bit more after tonight.

@B-more: He wasn’t that bad.
Did you watch Wade? Sure he’s more likeable than Bron, but he’s also sucking it up real hard.

Explain to me again how Lebron or DWade is better than Kobe? I … don’t… get it.

@LD The sex crime accusations totally explain how Lebron or Wade is better. I get it now.

@JTaylor – yup, that’s what I thought… Miami Heap of Basura!

your*

^Tough typo, james.

Why does JTaylor say anything at all? What he should do is think about what he’s going to say and then type the exact opposite. Then MAYBE he will say something that is correct or relevant. Bryan Crawford summed the whole thing up beautifully. Well said

myles sure stfu didnt he?

& Bryan Crawford is on fire for two days straight…