Who is Phil Jackson's go-to guy with Kobe Bryant sidelined?... Is Michael Jordan in the house?
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The Denver Nuggets looked asleep at the wheel for at least half of their 98-96 win over the LA Lakers on Thursday night. Luckily, Los Angeles rested Kobe Bryant’s sore knee and finger in preparation for the playoff defense of their 2009 title.
The Nuggets imposed their will on the Lakers at times, but slipped into mini-comas every time they took a lead.
This pattern was eerily reminiscent of every game Denver has played against sub-.500 teams this season… which the Lakers may well be without Kobe Bryant to bail them out in the closing seconds of every third game.
Ron Artest & Paul Gasol played admirably with Bryant out, but the rest of the Lakers, including head coach Phil Jackson, looked confused and disoriented without their ace in the hole. LA managed to take Denver to the wire, and the whole messy game came down to one Lakers possession with time running out.
So, with Kobe sidelined, who takes the clutch shot from beyond the arc with the game on the line?
Here were Phil Jackson’s options at guard, along with their field goal makes vs. attempts on the night.
Sasha Vujacic? (3-12)
Shannon Brown? (3-12)
Jordan Farmar? (3-8)
Derek Fisher? (2-11)
None of these options looked particularly appealing from where Los Angeles coach Phil Jackson was sitting as the Lakers prepared to inbound the ball with 0:12 left in the game. JR Smith had just made 1 of 2 free throws to put Denver up by 2… surely Jackson would use one of his two remaining timeouts to draw up a play that finds the open man.
No? Really?
Well, it makes sense in a way. Ol’ Phil has always had a clutch performer to handle such situations. Suggestions that Jackson is little more than a glorified personality manager sound strangely plausible at times like these.
Here’s the plan on a normal night in the coaching life of Phil Jackson:
Somebody gets Michael Jordan or Kobe Bryant the ball. They dribble for a while, head-fake for flavor, and then bury the contested game-winning shot. It’s a simple formula, but when your coaching resume consists of the Chicago Bulls Dynasty & the LA Lakers Dynasty, certain decisions become very easy.
No Michael? No Kobe? Paralysis…
With 0:12 remaining and Denver up by 2, the Lakers inbounded from the Nuggets’ end.
Phil Jackson is shown by TNT cameras sitting placidly on the sideline, his eyes glassed over, clearly immobilized in indecision.
Derek Fisher dribbles out 0:10 worth of clock with Carmelo Anthony crouched in front of him.  With 0:02 left, Fisher glances to his right as though he might actually pass with time expiring, and then makes his best Kobe Bryant impression…
Unfortunately for Derek, he is 6’2†tall. Carmelo Anthony is 6’8†tall with very long arms. Also unfortunate for Mr. Fisher, he is not Kobe Bryant nor so much as a serviceable stand-in.
Fisher rears to shoot, and before his arms can even come fully forward Carmelo meets his hand with a sort of high-five block.
(A note to Lakers fans: the hand is part of the ball where shot-blocking and foul-calling are concerned. I write this because I know you do not know this. Were Kobe Bryant to receive a similar high-five block, an erroneous foul would have been called. If not, Kobe would have put on his best tantrum face and stalked off the court, leading confused yellow-clad Hell-A dwellers to think that a foul should have been called. You can thank me for the clarification later.)
After the high-five block, the ball sails about 6 feet up and 3 feet forward in a short, neutered arc. Time expires. Nuggets win.
With the victory, Denver moved into 2nd place in the Western Conference. The Nuggets play two more home games and then finish their season at Phoenix. Amazingly, if the Lakers fail to win any of their last four games, and Denver wins out, the Nuggets will take the top seed via a thorough domination of the season series.
Not that Kobe Bryant would ever let that happen, but it is a comforting thought as Denver battles for playoff position with Dallas, Phoenix & Utah.
