It cost the Lakers coach only $35,000 to get inside the head of Oklahoma City’s Kevin Durant.
While the Lakers will begin their postseason at home, their dutiful coach has already strolled into an enemy camp, pitched a tent, started a fire, caused a mess.
While the Lakers will host Oklahoma City , Phil Jackson will begin the playoffs inside Kevin Durant's head."Oh, no, here we go again,'' former Laker Rick Fox said with a laugh.Oh, yes, here we go again.Casually, caustically, it happens every spring. For brief moments in each of his 10 playoff runs here, the star whisperer has become a bleacher heckler, lobbing unexpected shots down at unsuspecting opponents, testing their patience, judging their mettle.He doesn't do it maliciously, but he doesn't do it accidentally.
He wants to know who is soft. He wants to know where to punch."He wants to know where you're at,'' Fox said.Once during a emotional series with the Sacramento Kings, Jackson called the city of Sacramento a ‘'cowtown.'' The fans lost their cool. The Kings lost their focus.Last year, in the middle of a tied conference championship series with the Denver Nuggets, Jackson essentially called Dahntay Jones a dirty player. Jones was indignant. His teammates were distracted.
The Nuggets were cooked.This year it's Kevin Durant's turn, the barely adolescent Thunder star accused by Jackson of being pampered by officials, Durant reacting in the sort of anger and hurt that could lead him to play outside himself come Sunday's opener.In other words, Durant reacted perfectly, the league's leading scorer brilliantly playing the part of Jackson's mark."That is Phil's method. He made those comments to see what's going on inside the kid's head,'' said Fox, who won three consecutive titles here with Jackson.
‘'Skill-wise, the kid is there. But maturity-wise, in dealing with a playoff atmosphere, he still has a long way to go.''Earlier this week, here's what Jackson said about Durant, who led the league in free throws: "I think a lot of the referees are treating him like a superstar.… He gets to the line easily and often…Yeah, by the calls he gets, he really gets to the line a lot, I'll tell ya. ... There's a couple of plays in the last game where I was pretty curious how he got there.''The line about the referees earned Jackson a $35,000 fine from NBA on Thursday, a relatively small rental fee for the right to occupy the mind of a guy who, when unburdened, has the size and quickness to dominate the Lakers' defense.
While the Lakers will host Oklahoma City , Phil Jackson will begin the playoffs inside Kevin Durant's head."Oh, no, here we go again,'' former Laker Rick Fox said with a laugh.Oh, yes, here we go again.Casually, caustically, it happens every spring. For brief moments in each of his 10 playoff runs here, the star whisperer has become a bleacher heckler, lobbing unexpected shots down at unsuspecting opponents, testing their patience, judging their mettle.He doesn't do it maliciously, but he doesn't do it accidentally.
He wants to know who is soft. He wants to know where to punch."He wants to know where you're at,'' Fox said.Once during a emotional series with the Sacramento Kings, Jackson called the city of Sacramento a ‘'cowtown.'' The fans lost their cool. The Kings lost their focus.Last year, in the middle of a tied conference championship series with the Denver Nuggets, Jackson essentially called Dahntay Jones a dirty player. Jones was indignant. His teammates were distracted.
The Nuggets were cooked.This year it's Kevin Durant's turn, the barely adolescent Thunder star accused by Jackson of being pampered by officials, Durant reacting in the sort of anger and hurt that could lead him to play outside himself come Sunday's opener.In other words, Durant reacted perfectly, the league's leading scorer brilliantly playing the part of Jackson's mark."That is Phil's method. He made those comments to see what's going on inside the kid's head,'' said Fox, who won three consecutive titles here with Jackson.
‘'Skill-wise, the kid is there. But maturity-wise, in dealing with a playoff atmosphere, he still has a long way to go.''Earlier this week, here's what Jackson said about Durant, who led the league in free throws: "I think a lot of the referees are treating him like a superstar.… He gets to the line easily and often…Yeah, by the calls he gets, he really gets to the line a lot, I'll tell ya. ... There's a couple of plays in the last game where I was pretty curious how he got there.''The line about the referees earned Jackson a $35,000 fine from NBA on Thursday, a relatively small rental fee for the right to occupy the mind of a guy who, when unburdened, has the size and quickness to dominate the Lakers' defense.
No comments:
Post a Comment