Des Curran
As one managerial icon vows to continue an era of domestic dominance, for another it has all come to a shuddering end.
Alex Ferguson doesn’t just have another Premier League title virtually in the bag but a record breaking one. Having vowed to knock Liverpool off their perch when handed the Old Trafford job, Ferguson is on the brink of proving as good as his word.
Half a world away though, it’s an entirely different story for another storied sporting coach and one Fergie should pay heed of.
At the start of the NBA season Phil Jackson’s Los Angeles Lakers were chasing a third title in a row but on Sunday evening in Dallas, they traipsed off the court at the end of a crushing 122-86 defeat to the home town Mavericks, one of the worst defeats in their playoff history, a defeat that confirmed a 4-0 series rout.
Before the third in a best of seven series, Lakers centre Andrew Bynum had called his team out, claiming they were struggling with “trust issues”.
He was right. No fight, no heart, no cohesion, no answers. These weren’t the signs of a Phil Jackson side.
Bynum and Lamar Odum both heaped further misery on their departing coach by being ejected in the fourth quarter as the Lakers disgrace was complete.
Post-Jackson there are plenty of Lakers fans who believe it could be a long road back to the top. This after all was the man who, having led the Chicago Bulls to six titles in eight years in the ’90s, was handed the job of restoring the west coast giants to the top. It didn’t take long. With Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal leading the way, three straight titles were secured in ’00, ’01 and ’02.
After a five-year absence they then made it back to the finals in 2008 only to fall to arch rivals the Boston Celtics — a defeat they were to avenge in epic fashion two years later to defend a title won in 2009 against the Orlando Magic. And had Jackson bowed out last year as he had originally intended, what a way to go it would have been.
Nothing gets the American sporting pulse racing like Lakers-Celtics and after a thrilling, rollercoaster seven games, Jackson’s side edged one of the greatest ever NBA finals series. Never go back?
That was the plan, but Jackson did. Now, no doubt, wishing he hadn’t.
At 6’ 8” it’s not easy to hide, and as Jackson loped towards the visitors dressing room after that humbling game four loss, camera thrust in his face, there was an attempt to keep the chin up, knowing this was his final walk.
But there were cracks in the façade, This was the end, but not how the game’s most successful coach had ever dreamed it, a four-game blow out in Dallas. As he joked about himself pre-game, “dead man walking”.
Between the Bulls and the Lakers Phil Jackson contested 13 NBA finals winning 11 (adding to the two he won as a player with the New York Knicks in the ’70s). He deserved a better ending, but sometimes you don’t get what you deserve.
Now when he sits in his cabin in Montana, will he remember all the glory days, or will the spectre of an ignominious Dallas exit loom largest?
Next season at Old Trafford will be an interesting one particularly if United claim the Premier League and Champions League in the next few weeks. Ferguson has proven himself a man who knows his own mind, but maybe Phil Jackson might have a little bit of advice worth listening to.
Source: http://feeds.examiner.ie/~r/iesportsblog/~3/MfynRF1K4Vo/post.aspx
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