More than a Game
Basketball isn’t rocket Science; it’s about putting the ball in at one end and about defending the basket at the other; and it’s about people playing together
Phil Jackson has won 11 NBA titles: 2 as a player and 9 as a coach (Three 3-peats). Why has Phil been so successful? Because Phil understands that basketball is a team game.
The book, “More than a Game”, chronicles Phil’s rise from his early days in Montana to playing with the Knicks in the 70’s to coaching in Puerto Rico and CBA to coaching the Bulls then the Lakers. The book also includes a glossary and diagrams to explain general basketball and the triangle offense terminology.
Unfortunately, I wasn’t paying attention when I bought this book, so I didn’t realize Charley Rosen (Phil’s buddy) also co-authors this book. In the book, Charley and Phil alternate chapters, but for the most part, it disrupts the flow.
Phil talked little about his days with the Knicks. Phil also failed to mention much about his run with the Bulls aside from Jordan’s initial resistance to the triangle. Phil did cover the basics of the triangle using players from the Bulls. The bulk of the Phil’s chapters covered: the road to becoming the head coach of the Lakers, his first season coaching the Lakers and the subsequent playoff run.
The book did a good job of demonstrating the ups and downs during the course of a season. In particular, the playoff run chapters were the most enjoyable part of the book. For you see, the NBA is all about match-ups. Teams will relentlessly attack a favorable match-up, so there is a never ending series of adjustments made by each team. The playoff chapters went into detail about these adjustments and how the Lakers eventually went on to win the NBA title.
In the book, there are three prophetic sections
Don’t see the connection? It was the climax of Phil’s next book “The Last Season: A Team in Search of Its Soul” documenting the Lakers’ 2003-2004 season. I think I’ll buy that book in the near future. In the meantime, I'd recommend this book to anyone with a passing interest in basketball.
– Red Holzman (Phil Jackson’s mentor and coach)
Phil Jackson has won 11 NBA titles: 2 as a player and 9 as a coach (Three 3-peats). Why has Phil been so successful? Because Phil understands that basketball is a team game.
The book, “More than a Game”, chronicles Phil’s rise from his early days in Montana to playing with the Knicks in the 70’s to coaching in Puerto Rico and CBA to coaching the Bulls then the Lakers. The book also includes a glossary and diagrams to explain general basketball and the triangle offense terminology.
Unfortunately, I wasn’t paying attention when I bought this book, so I didn’t realize Charley Rosen (Phil’s buddy) also co-authors this book. In the book, Charley and Phil alternate chapters, but for the most part, it disrupts the flow.
Phil talked little about his days with the Knicks. Phil also failed to mention much about his run with the Bulls aside from Jordan’s initial resistance to the triangle. Phil did cover the basics of the triangle using players from the Bulls. The bulk of the Phil’s chapters covered: the road to becoming the head coach of the Lakers, his first season coaching the Lakers and the subsequent playoff run.
The book did a good job of demonstrating the ups and downs during the course of a season. In particular, the playoff run chapters were the most enjoyable part of the book. For you see, the NBA is all about match-ups. Teams will relentlessly attack a favorable match-up, so there is a never ending series of adjustments made by each team. The playoff chapters went into detail about these adjustments and how the Lakers eventually went on to win the NBA title.
In the book, there are three prophetic sections
- The introduction that shows us why Kobe is a dork who could never be as good as Jordan.
- (PG 191) “Whenever any of my Bulls teams played against Shaq, our aim had been to control the auxillary players and make Shaq work hard for his points. By not double-teaming Shaq, he got into a one-on-one mode of play while his teammates stood around and watched him.”
- (PG 263) [Talking about the NBA finals home/away games format, 2-3-2] “In truth, however, no homestanding team ever sweeps the middle three games.”
Don’t see the connection? It was the climax of Phil’s next book “The Last Season: A Team in Search of Its Soul” documenting the Lakers’ 2003-2004 season. I think I’ll buy that book in the near future. In the meantime, I'd recommend this book to anyone with a passing interest in basketball.
posted by Edward at
5/28/2006 04:40:00 AM
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