Tuesday, May 26th, 2009 at 9:00 am  |  85 responses

Phil Jackson Pleads His Case for More Free Throws

by Marcel Mutoni

The only thing more entertaining than the game last night – for Laker fans, anyway – was Phil Jackson’s press conference following the loss. He went to war with the press corps (at one point telling a reporter to shut up and listen), called out Dahntay Jones for his intentional trip of Kobe Bryant, and attacked the refs for not calling an even game.

It was an epic performance by the Zen Master, and certainly a much better effort than the one his team was able to provide in Game 4.

The Press-Enterprise reports:

Jackson suggested that inconsistent officiating sapped the Lakers of their typical aggressiveness and ultimately caused the second half to get “kind of out of hand.” Three of the four technicals called in the game were on Denver, but the Nuggets shot 49 free throws – 14 more than the Lakers.

“Tonight we didn’t know what a foul was and what wasn’t a foul out there,” he said. “Start of the ball game, we got guys knocked around going to the basket and they said they were going to let these things go. By the end of the game, little fouls were being called all over the place.”

The play that drew Jackson’s ire the most was when Luke Walton caught an elbow to the neck from Nene that did not draw a whistle as he came across the lane with nine minutes remaining and the Lakers down 14. Walton was assessed a technical for arguing the non-call, then picked up four more personal fouls the rest of the quarter to foul out of the game in less than 13 minutes. “That’s not equal refereeing, and those are the things that change the course of games,” Jackson said. We don’t like that. We want the game to be fair and evenly played.”

This is how the (politicking) game within the game works, and no one knows how to play it better than Phil.

Which is why you should expect to see the Lakers parading to the free throw line time and again in Game 5, back on their home floor.

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  • http://www.shawn-kemps-offspring.blogspot.com Eboy

    Oh fu* you Myles and your sound logic.

  • http://sfdjilf.com Jukai

    It must have really hurt Myles Brown to say that, but I guess his hatred for Eboy is actually boiling over to the point where he has to agree with me.

  • belloblock

    kobe DOES NOT get all the calls

  • http://www.shawn-kemps-offspring.blogspot.com Eboy

    I would have put a smiley face next to it, Myles, but you wouldn’t have seen the comment until 3:00p this afternoon then.

  • http://lastknickstanding.blogspot.com Bryan

    Phil has issues with his rotations. Luke walton and sasha on the court at the same time automatically sucks.

  • http://sfdjilf.com Jukai

    Isn’t it funny how a Hall of Fame coach and the Coach of the Year are both killing their respective 65+ win teams in the playoffs?

  • http://www.kb24.com The Seed

    Odom, Pau and Bynum, are killing the Lakers.

  • http://www.kb24.com The Seed

    Williams and West, are killing the Cavs.

  • http://sfdjilf.com Jukai

    The Seed: I don’t think Pau is killing the Lakers. He’s always doing good in the first half then they seem to go away from him. The games they have won, Gasol has been a major part of the team. Phil needs to recognize this and make him a greater part of the team.
    Odom and Bynum have never played well together so I don’t see why it is a surprise that they aren’t playing well together.

  • http://www.kb24.com The Seed

    Kobe and Lebron should just take less money and play together, because the cast around them are getting on my nerves. Can any role player step up for them, so they won’t have to carry the load–NO, answered it myself.

  • http://sfdjilf.com Jukai

    The Seed: Defense is killing the Cavaliers. There have been plenty of nights that Williams and West absolutely SUCKED, but it didn’t matter, because the Cavalier defense destroyed any opponent. Now that the Cavalier defense is failing them, people are beginning to see how miserable the offense has been. Massive offensive changes are in order, yet the Cavaliers have been playing the SAME defense for the past three games. It’s insulting, really.

  • http://sfdjilf.com Jukai

    But yeah, if Odom, Bynum, West, and Williams would shoot over 30%, I guess that would help too.

  • http://www.kb24.com The Seed

    Jukai, I can agree with his offense, but Odom, Pau and Bynum got out rebounded, which to me cost the lakers the game, everytime the Lakers got close, offensive rebound, second shot. Lakers need rebounding. Then Pau can get off on the offensive part.

  • http://twitter.com/TH3_R3AL_CHRIS Young Chris MP3

    Of course he wants more free throws. Aside from the Nuggets collapse in games 1 and 3, the free throw discrepancy allowed the Lakers to win both games.

  • http://lacuevacrosscountry.com Slick Nick Da Ruler

    White Hot, great Kobe synopsis. Bitter, but on point.

  • tenorca

    Just thought I’d mention the Lakers enjoyed a 45-31 free throw advantage in Game 3. So, please Phil, allow me to not take you seriously. Your team needs a heart transplant.

  • http://www.shawn-kemps-offspring.blogspot.com Eboy

    Exactly.

  • http://www.twitter.com/TheDiesel Anton

    Phil will demand to be traded in the off-season.

  • Rome

    “They’re a joke compared to the 2000-2003 Shaq-led Laker teams, who *clinically* took out lesser opponents on both ends of the floor, instead of dozing around and waiting to turn it on 4 or 5 games into the series.”

    Those teams constantly were on the brink of getting beat except in the finals when Shaq ould go nuts, but kobe, fisher, fox, shaw, and horry bailed them out several times..

  • breeze

    i think the lakers are only comiitted when thier something on the line…ike it was no sense of urgency and they pratically didnt have the same drive..its nothing to do with nothing else

  • http://twitter.com/TH3_R3AL_CHRIS Young Chris MP3

    Truth is, Both the Lakers and Cavs should have been swept. Neither team has played better than Denver/Orlando. Denver beat themselves in games 1 and 3 (missing free throws in the opener and open jumpers in game 3, allowing the Lakers to capitalize by going to the line at every possession in the final five minutes of regulation both games. Cleveland got lucky on a miracle three from Lebron).

  • http://twitter.com/TH3_R3AL_CHRIS Young Chris MP3

    And breeze, this Lakers squad isn’t good enough to have that mentality. That’s the mentality Shaq and Kobe used to have, but they were Shaq and Kobe. This is Kobe and a bunch of soft, heartless role-players and secondary stars who Dirk out in clutch situations (Lamar and Pau)

  • Stan

    I remember a time when charging calls were about 2 per game, it’s disappointing to see how many charge calls are called these days. The problem with the referees is that they were never nba players. If bill laimbeer, rick mahorn, and sir charles became referees after their playing careers, games would have 12 fouls called consistently, and maybe 1 charging foul. What you have is steve jabbie, elmer fudd, and whoever else is calling the game thinking that a body check is a foul because they were never in that position. have you guys ever called a body check foul on the playground and still get invited to play the next game? Referees should at least be a college player to pass as an nba referee!!! Shaq should never be called for a charging foul ever.

  • http://www.rich-imaging.com Dutch Rich

    Dang Stan! I was wit ya until your last sentence…

  • Charita

    Uhh just saying don’t they get unfair calls like all the time…..I guess Stern turned in early with his Ovaltine and Oreos and the Bat phone never rang for them to win.

  • http://www.youtube.com The Promise

    This is getting so old.. Every team thinks they’re gettin screwed, when they really aint. the refs are calling to many fouls on EVERYBODY, thats the problem. I dont see any bias out there, theres just not a good defintion of what a foul is, period, not just in the game last night. So many calls are made out of anticipation, and so, when they expect a foul to happen, and it doesnt, but yet they blow the whistle anyway, thats where the whining starts. Maybe the refs need to wait just a split second after the contact and quickly detirmine if it was a foul. I beleive that would lower some of the blown calls and the postgame crying..

  • Stan

    If small players can use their speed, big players should be able to use their size. I’m not saying Shaq could run over everyone but when he’s backing down, he should not be called for a charge. The other team should have a player big enough or strong enough to stand ground and prevent shaq from backing them down. If they don’t have one then they hack a shaq.

  • t4inc

    Difference between MJ and Kobe:

    MJ: Made moves to get himself easier baskets.
    Kobe: Made moves to make him look good so people would compare him to MJ.

    MJ rarely settled for what the defense gave him; he’d try to squeeze whatever advantage he could to get the best shot possible, hence his greater efficiency (as borne-out by the statistics). Kobe, meanwhile, tries all these ridiculous shots almost as if he wants to see whether he can make them and so his “fans” can ooh and ah.

  • http://www.triplejunearthed.com/dacre Dacre

    I’m just going to throw this out there….it’s probably neither the right time nor place but….

    What are the chances that Kobe leaves LA if they don’t get a ring this year? Will he want out?

  • http://myspace.com/2grownup2beshownup Jack

    Of course the Fakers are upset at the fact that they shot less free throws, they’re the Fakers! They’re supposed to be favoured by the refs! Might I add that Kobe still shot 13 freebies, more than anyone on the Nuggets by at least 2. It’s called playoff basketball Phil, harden the f*ck up. Of course you’re bound to have less free throws when you get outrebounded by 18! I always said that this guy isn’t as good as people think, anyone would be good if they inheritites MJ-Pippen or Kobe-Shaq. Phil’s just bitbh!n cos he didn’t get looked after.

  • bulldog

    Blah-blah-blah. Ohhhh Kobe sucks….Ohhh the Lakers suck….You gotta love that sarcastic play on words – The FAKERS. That is so damn clever- How original. Never heard that one before. Kobe not as good as people think? Hilarious. The series is tied and the Lakers have two games out of three on their home court. Ok, that means Kobe is going to leave L.A. right? Makes perfectly good sense to me. Because it is common knowledge that unless the Lakers go UNDEFEATED in the postseason they absolutely do not have championship caliber. Just like the Celtics did last postseason, right? They went UNDEFEATED. Because the New England Patriots proved that UNDEFEATED is the only way to win a championship. That’s the blueprint to success. Someone actually said that Kobe Bryant is a “cheap imitation of Michael Jordan?” We’re talking Kobe Bryant of the Los Angeles Lakers, right? Hmmm- so insightful- Who could argue with that logic? Sooo.. Lebron James, Charles Barkley, Karl Malone, Domonique Wilkens, etc. These guys are all scrubs – fugazis. Correct? Oh, make no mistake about it. The Lakers chose to mail that last game in- a dissapointing effort. In a 7 game series the better team will win. Maybe the Lakers will win. Maybe the Lakers won’t. But please don’t insult our intelligence by crowing that old tired “Fakers” chant – And the officiating? – That can best be summed up by the old Benny Hill tune “Yakety Sax”. Just play that as the soundtrack. (see Dwight Howard technical foul. No, it’s not a conspiracy – it’s INCOMPETENCY. Yeah, yeah it’s all part of the game, shut up and play, etc. Let’s see if we get the same home cooking tonight. Should be interesting. Especially with that scrub we have playing for us, the legendary Kobe Bryant. Give me a personal break.

  • bakers’ dozen

    Nuggs by 12 tonight. Kobe to cry ‘FOUL’ afterwards.

  • http://http//www.youtube.com The Promise

    bulldog: Nobody is calling Kobe a scrub man. People are saying that he gets too many calls, and they are begging ESPN analysts to stop comparing him to Jordan.

  • http://www.qualifiedengineer.com Qualified Engineer

    The Qualified Engineer says that Phil’s loyalty to Dfish is hurting the Lakers. Forget the silly cries for more fouls, the refs have lost their way.

    The Qualified Engineer suggests that Phil shouldn’t anger the refs with post game comments to the media, the are humans and are very flawed.

    The Qualified Engineer says Phil needs to recognize who is sitting on the bench and coach accordingly. The current roster doesn’t have the mental toughness to play themselves out of a whole. they need guidance, the need the occasional a$$ chewing.

  • Pingback: SLAM ONLINE | » Nugget: ‘Lakers paid $50K to win Game 5′

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