Phil Jackson Quotes (191 Quotes)

I have to allow his judgment. He felt like he could do that at that time.

It was a disappointing loss for us as a basketball team. We couldn't keep them off the free throw line in the fourth quarter. We just didn't have things go our way.

I was very disappointed with the road trip. We had players injured and our team was not competing as hard as it could. The injuries hurt our team morale.

We were flat tonight. We are still not quite good enough to stay with a team like that.

It came to a point where there was that curiosity factor Was he going to hit 80 I'm sure it went through his head.

For Kobe, it's about on the court, ... It's about re-establishing his dominance of the game.

They're shooting almost 40 percent. That in itself is remarkable, unheard of. It converts to a lot of points. And to have to recycle our team to find a way to match up against them is not easy. It's not conventional.

We need to try to regain some home-court advantage.

After a game like he had yesterday, I told his people I'm surprised he didn't name his child Victoria because this had to be one special day for this kid.

We've had a couple momentum shifts throughout the course of the year, and this is what we've been talking about as a group - we want to build the momentum, because now is the time to do it. We've shown signs of this - the Houston game at the end of the road trip.

I think that Shaq measures himself against a season. I've always given him credit for that. He knows what the end goal is, and he's got a tremendous amount of pride. He'll be there when the playoffs are going, and he's going to be probably at his peak at that time.

The more you draw attention to it, the worse it becomes. So it's better just to show up and swallow your pride.

I think we are playing relatively good basketball. Tonight we were quick to the ball and did a good job on defense.

Poor decisions and free throw shooting haunted us. I was disappointed in our ball control.

When he's playing well, we really have a special team. When he's not playing well, we really miss him.

I told the guys at halftime, they had their nap in the first half, now it's time to play. And you saw what happened. We slept almost all the way through the third quarter.

That is what happens when teams play with desperation and the other team comes out and doesn't play at the same level. We just got beat to the ball too many times and they were active and aggressive. They beat us with the nature of the play.

I thought we played in spurts tonight. We came out with a little more energy in the third quarter, compared to our last two games, which helped a lot.

I thought we had a good defensive first half. We capitalized off the steals and turnovers. I don't think we finished well, but the win tonight was good for our confidence.

The idea when we came here was we weren't going to let this game get by us.

He's having the best season of anybody in the NBA. There are a couple guys who are having really good years, but there's not anybody who's having the kind of year he's having.

There's still a fan core out there that's not going to let him off the hook. They're not going to give him the grace and the ability to get himself off the hook and into the fans' favor.

I'm staying away from basketball now to see how much I miss it and how big an influence it's going to be in my life. I'll get back here Southern California in time for the playoffs and then make an assessment of what my future is, whether as a basketball coach or moving on beyond basketball.

Kareem met these guys at the door and he said, 'That effort wins on Wednesday (in Game 2).' He was very supportive. I think they heard that -- that if they give that kind of effort again, they can win.

Give him a ready-made title contender, let him add water, mix it up and toss it into the oven, and out comes a championship trophy. People think I would never take on a team that has no legitimate chance to win a championship, ... This is one of the major misconceptions about me. Success can be measured in many different ways. . . . Either way, I would find the challenge invigorating.

Most of it's about the quickness involved. Just the activity to the ball. Loose balls, tip-ins, all those little things make such a difference in a game. And that's a matter of seconds, and I think a lot of that is about energy.

We had some dramatic plays down the stretch. Kobe stayed very well inside of what we were trying to do. We kind of died on the vine a couple of times when the shot clock was running down. Then we were able to find that penetrating pass. We were able to find a couple of things that worked for us.

This one is certainly a challenge. It's an enjoyable one and one without a whole lot of pressure on me. The boss' daughter told me if things don't work right, I can take a day off.

We're not even going to discuss it. It's a basketball team and we've got to focus on what we need to do.

Despite their tremendous talent, (NBA players) are still, by and large, young adults, seeking validation from an authority figure, and there is no greater authority figure on a team than the coach. Needless to say, in today's warped, self-indulgent climate, too many players couldn't care less about appeasing the coach.

We thought this was a winnable game.

I don't think I ever used the word passive, but I do think he was looking to feed his teammates. He was looking to pass first and shoot later. This game, I want him to carry the threat.

He's still not 100 percent. He will be established in this organization as a prominent player. I'm going to ask him to step into that level as a responsible player on the floor.

That's not unusual for a player to lose concentration if certain phases of the game go wrong for him. He put some pressure on himself to score. All players want to score as a part of their game. . . . I don't know where his confidence is. You either have it or you don't have it. It doesn't reside in your jockstrap or your brain. His confidence should be in his defense. That's where he plays and rebounds and hustles for us.

I thought it was vindictive.

He started when he was 17. It's great, but it's not the stuff I care about. It's something he'll look back on some day and say, 'That's remarkable.

We had a blowout in the third quarter and we never recovered from it. Give them credit Mobley and Brand were productive players out there.

I think that contributed to it somewhat. So we live with that decision.

They really crowded Shaq well and did not give him a good look in the lane. He struggled to find a position in the lane all night.

Larry has been in this situation many more times than I have, ... It is very unique for me.

I think they felt intimidated at some point in this playoff. ...Our big guys have been effective. ... They just wanted to make a stand and make a statement.

He's been under five systems in as many years, ... I expect it's going to take some time.

We definitely want to make the playoffs -- that's a goal for us. We won't know how far we can go in the playoffs for a long time. To make the playoffs is a goal we think we can accomplish. This is going to be a process. You're not going to see a finished product for a while.

I think all our players were encouraged by the effort, and thought we had the right idea. Our execution came up a little bit short.

It's all about developing an atmosphere where players want to support and help each other. You want a nurturing place where they feel they can make mistakes, ... Philadelphia's got one of the great passers for a big man in Webber. And one of the great players as far as scoring guards in Allen. Certainly, that should give them some momentum to work with as they go through the year.

They're playing at a very high level. They're still there as far as going after the record. A lot of things can go down in the second half of the season, but they are very good.

There's going to be games like that, games that are going to be up there (offensively), especially with the accuracy on three-pointers that they did tonight.

I have my hopes as to how we can grow as a basketball club,

You learn about winning at a different level. College is a much different level than the professional game. It's exciting and it's high energy. But as we know, there's very few that come and play in this game.

It was like the third quarter would never end. I thought we would never get through it. Larry helped by getting off the court.