Phil Jackson fires another verbal volley at Spurs

[Jimcs50]

Lest the Lakers forget who tonight's opponent is, Laker Coach Phil Jackson stoked the fire a bit by referring to San Antonio forward Bruce Bowen as "Edward Scissorhands."
Bowen, one of the better and more active defenders in the league, will again cover Kobe Bryant. Bowen was fined $10,000 for kicking Seattle guard Ray Allen in the back during the Spurs' 106-102 loss Sunday.

"Bowen's hands and feet are always moving," Jackson said. "Lot of things going on out there."

Bryant has averaged 32.3 points and only 39.4% shooting in three games against the Spurs this season.

Mindful of the Lakers' four-game winning streak at Staples Center, Jackson also expressed hope they would continue to establish home-court success by playing a "macho kind of game" against the Spurs.

[Jimcs50]

Lakers, Spurs renew rivalry
By Ross Siler Staff Writer



EL SEGUNDO - It was the rivalry that gave Phil Jackson the chance to deride San Antonio as the land of "conventioneers and tourists" and Shaquille O'Neal the chance to declare, "One lucky shot deserves another" after Derek Fisher's miracle turnaround.
It also was the rivalry that seemingly came to an end after the Lakers rallied from a two-game deficit to beat the Spurs in the 2004 Western Conference semifinals, only to part ways with Jackson and trade O'Neal after the season.

"I felt like the Soviet Union just disbanded," San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich said back in July 2004.

The two teams met four times in the playoffs during Jackson's first five years as Lakers coach and have won six of the last seven NBA championships.

But they likely will find themselves on opposite sides of the playoff bracket this season.

Unless the Lakers slip to eighth in the standings, the teams would meet only if both advanced to the Western Conference finals. Not that Jackson was willing to rule out the possibility at practice Wednesday.

"If we play well enough and survive,


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we'll see them some place," Jackson said.

If not, then tonight's game will be as close to a playoff game as the Spurs and Lakers will get. They have met twice already this month, and Jackson would like to see his team find the resolve to win at Staples Center in a way they haven't always this season.

"What this young team has to learn," Jackson said, "is how to develop their own homecourt, macho kind of game where they're really carrying the game to teams."

The Lakers also have a chance to extend their winning streak to a season-high five games and better their home record to 21-13.

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[CubanMustGo]

Good ol' Phil. Actually I think that is about as close as he has ever come to complementing a Spurs player.

[SpursWoman]

Good ol' Phil. Actually I think that is about as close as he has ever come to complementing a Spurs player.

Yeah ... I didn't see that as a slur. His constant moving is what makes him such a good defender...

[spurs_fan_in_exile]

So he's accusing Bowen of killing Anthony Michael Hall and breaking Wynona Ryder's heart? Or is Bruce cranking out some sweet ass topiaries now?

[LakerHater0823]

Hey Phil!!

[pache100]

Laker Coach Phil Jackson stoked the fire a bit by referring to San Antonio forward Bruce Bowen as "Edward Scissorhands."

"Bowen's hands and feet are always moving," Jackson said. "Lot of things going on out there."

Excellent! Good job, Brucie! You have Phil scared so less he has to run you down to the media like the classless moron that he is.

Bryant has averaged 32.3 points and only 39.4% shooting in three games against the Spurs this season.

See?!?! Bruce for President!

[TDMVPDPOY]

Phil Jackson Gtfo!

[Solid D]

The Lakers tried to take away the inside game in LA the last time. It didn't work because the Spurs shot very well from the outside. I expect the Lakers to defend the arc much better than the Clippers did (Lakers rank 6th in Opp. 3-pt. %).

The Lakers used a different offensive strategy in San Antonio when they won on a 2nd game of a b2b and at the end of a tough travel and game schedule. The Lakers lifted 4, ran the weave and lots of cuts out of that to the basket. It opened up the middle and ran the tired Spurs into being just plain lazy on help defense.

I also expect no love from the refs for Bruce after his $10K fine.

[Phenomanul]

The Lakers tried to take away the inside game in LA the last time. It didn't work because the Spurs shot very well from the outside. I expect the Lakers to defend the arc much better than the Clippers did (Lakers rank 6th in Opp. 3-pt. %).

The Lakers used a different offensive strategy in San Antonio when they won on a 2nd game of a b2b and at the end of a tough travel and game schedule. The Lakers lifted 4, ran the weave and lots of cuts out of that to the basket. It opened up the middle and ran the tired Spurs into being just plain lazy on help defense.

I also expect no love from the refs for Bruce after his $10K fine.

Not having Mihm will hurt them against our bigs.

[CubanMustGo]

I also expect no love from the refs for Bruce after his $10K fine.

Considering how SA gets less love from the refs than any other serious contender, it wouldn't surprise if you're right ... but then again, Bruce owned up to being wrong and accepted his fine. You would hope that refs who want to hold something against him would also give some credit for that.

Ha!

[kskonn]

I actually thought he meant that bruces tactics are often mis understood and he is labeled with les such as "dirty" . People are just not used to someone who works so hard and uses their entire body to play defense. Just like poor scissorhand, so misunderstood.

[50 cent]

"If we play well enough and survive, we'll see them some place," Jackson said.

That sounds like Phyllis complemented the Spurs.

[CosmicCowboy]

Edward Scissorhands? Hehehe....now that there is funny, I don't care who you are...

[TDMVPDPOY]

lets hope one of the spurs player throws the ball out of bounds in the direction of phil jackson, and BB goes after the ball with his foot out at least he has a reason that he was goin after the ball.

[T-Pain]

philly jackson is a genious

[samikeyp]

Bowen's hands and feet are always moving

yes...its called playing defense!

[SequSpur]

So where is the verbal volley?

[leemajors]

sounds like he lobbed something else.

[Solid D]

[Amuseddaysleeper]

yeah i'm confused, i dont see where the insult was in that edward scissorhands statement.

[DDS4]

Bark is worse than the bite.

Phil knows what's up.

[Rummpd]

The real PJ crying will be after the game.

[Medvedenko]

Phil speaks the truth....Bruce is an all body defender, hence labelled as a dirty player. He plays tough defense and sometimes players get hurt. Who cares, more players should use their body more when playing D. Too many teams let players go off for crazy points, where all you need one player to step up and put a hard foul on someone. I like that kind of ball. There are too many friends in the L.

[samikeyp]

well said Med.

Are you ok? I worried about you when Slava was cut.