Lakers' coach Phil Jackson savors 10th title

Phil Jackson, the "Zen Master" who coaches the Los Angeles Lakers, planned to honor the legend he surpassed for most NBA championships. The Lakers' 99-86 victory over...

By The Associated Press and Bloomberg News

ORLANDO, Fla. — Phil Jackson, the "Zen Master" who coaches the Los Angeles Lakers, planned to honor the legend he surpassed for most NBA championships.

The Lakers' 99-86 victory over the Orlando Magic in Game 5 of the best-of-seven NBA Finals on Sunday night gave Jackson 10 league titles — four with the Lakers and six with the Chicago Bulls.

Red Auerbach won nine NBA championships, all with the Boston Celtics, and was known for lighting victory cigars. Auerbach died in 2006.

"I'll smoke a cigar tonight, in memory of Red," the 63-year-old Jackson said. "He was a great guy."

Jackson's previous titles with the Lakers were in 2000, 2001 and 2002.

Jackson wore a gold cap with a Roman numeral "X" after the game but indicated he wanted players to get the attention.

"It was surreal to watch this thing count down and see these guys out there on the floor carry the day," Jackson said. "It's all about them."


10 for 'Zen Master'
Coaches with the most NBA championships
Name	Teams	Titles
Phil Jackson	Chi., Lakers	10
Red Auerbach	Boston	9
Johnny Kundla	Minneapolis	5
Pat Riley	Lakers, Mia.	5
Gregg Popovich	San Antonio	4

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Comments (1)

Under the category of goofy-looking* yet extremely talented tall guys achieving sports milestones (*and I personally can DEFINITELY appreciate this... Posted on June 15, 2009 at 1:12 PM by goodycoug. Jump to comment

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