<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Someone asked Laker Coach Phil Jackson before the game with the Clippers to evaluate the job he has done, and he tried to be humble, which shocked me too. "I think I've cost our team a lot of games," and when he noticed me enthusiastically agreeing with him, he amended his remarks and said he cost the Lakers about four games. He said there were times when he didn't call a timeout, "which would have meant standing up," I said, and he must have been in an unusually good mood, because he didn't walk away. There were times, he repeated, when he allowed his players to "dangle a little bit" on their own to teach them a lesson rather than call a timeout, and maybe do some coaching. As a result, it cost the Lakers about four games. For the record, I continue to have confidence in the guy, and still believe one day Jackson will be a really good coach, but I checked the standings to see where the Lakers would be had he been willing to stand up more often. Four more wins and the Lakers would be 45-33, tied with the Clippers and separated by only percentage points, but putting them in position to possibly play Denver in the first round ? and because of some crazy NBA rule, earning the home-court advantage. That's certainly better than placing seventh, as it appears they will, beginning the playoffs in Phoenix and getting waxed, and so the next question was pretty obvious: "Do you think you earned the $10 million Jerry Buss gave you?" "Definitely," Jackson said, while ending the news conference. "Now I've got to go attend to my Buss," he said while throwing an arm around Jeanie Buss, and I guess no matter how this season ends, Jackson will be OK. </div> link: http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-simers...tilities-sports
