Phil Jackson might be the greatest basketball coach of all time, but he did certain things which clearly showed his narcissism, which was as worse as it could be. And Kobe Bryant received the worst of it.
Advertisement
If a former Lakers player is to be believed, the former head coach who has led the Bulls and the Lakers to a combined 11x NBA championships is the reason why Bryant is only at the second spot on the list of highest points scored by an individual in one game.
Phil Jackson took Kobe Bryant out in his 81-point game because of his belief – “some records need to stand”
On Shannon Sharpe’s Club Shay Shay podcast, talking about how the Lakers will not let LeBron James break Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s all-time scoring record, John Salley talked about how their head coach denied Kobe his chance to have his own 100-point game.
Former Lakers and Pistons Big man and 4x Champ, just say “wow” when Phil Jackson decided to take Bryant out of the game when he was at 81 points and just 19 away from breaking the all-time record for most points in a game.
“I didn’t agree with something Phil Jackson said to me,” Salley remembered. “I said, ‘Phil, Kobe had 81. No matter what you do, he was about to get 104.’ They would’ve kept feeding him the ball. The other side would’ve been like, ‘Don’t hurt him.’ But, there would’ve been clearouts, and Kobe would’ve got 104.”
“He goes, ‘Well, some records need to stand.’ And I was like, ‘Wow.’ He goes, ‘He’s No. 2. He doesn’t need to be No. 1.’”
Yikes! That sounds too wrong to do to any of the players, let alone the face of your franchise. But Jackson had some ego problem which also led to Kobe and Shaq’s quarrel and then their break up.
Phil was really a menace in LA
It might not be totally true, but even Big Shot Bob has confirmed the story of Phil being the reason for Bryant and O’Neal’s friendship turning to bad blood.
And the Lakers’ management getting rid of both Shaq and Phil in 2004 confirms the latter’s direct involvement in putting fuel to the fire between the greatest duo of all time.
