A day before what could be the last game of the 2008-09
season, the press was in a reflective mood during Saturday’s media
availability. Nothing wrong with that, we all have stories to write, but it is
funny how this script seems to repeat itself year after year on what might be
the last chance the media has at an extended sit-down until October.

So there were questions about Phil Jackson’s legacy, Red
Auerbach’s record in the Finals, Kobe Bryant’s individual legacy, Derek
Fisher’s thoughts on whether or not he has distinct memories from each of his
Finals wins, Orlando’s season-long history of bouncing back; and, once again, a
wonderful rant from Stan Van Gundy about how the media much prefers to write a
story about nebulous, intangible things rather than just focusing on the game
of basketball.

Most affecting was Phil Jackson’s needed, well-versed
history on Red Auerbach’s time with the Boston Celtics. A lot of fans and media
alike seem to regard Auerbach as springing out of the womb with a signed
contract from Bill Russell in hand, but the truth goes a little deeper than
that, evidenced by Phil speaking about Auerbach for over a minute without even
getting to his championship years (the very years he was asked about).

Auerbach was a less-than-successful coach with the
Washington Capitols before essentially changing the way the game was played before acquiring Russell for the
Celtics. The pre-Russell Celtics were a Phoenix
Suns-style running team (right down to being contenders, but championship
also-rans) before there were many of those, with an All-Star (Ed Macauley)
already in the pivot. Trading Macauley to St. Louis
for Russell’s draft rights, Jackson noted, was a
huge gamble; and yet it put Boston
over the top.

Jackson then pointed out how Auerbach could have won "two or
three more championships," but that he handed over the coaching reigns to
Russell because it was the best thing for the Celtics, if not Auerbach
personally. All down the line, he praised Auerbach’s instincts and guts,
essentially, as a player evaluator. It was a thoughtful, appropriate, tribute;
coming at a time where most in the media room wanted Phil to talk endlessly of his
own accomplishments.

Phil then went on to praise Mitch Kupchak and Jimmy Buss as
personnel evaluators, telling the press that Jimmy (owner Jerry’s son)
desperately wanted and secured Andrew Bynum despite his limited high school
playing history and 17-years of age. He also pointed out that Kupchak had been
hot on Pau Gasol’s heels for a year, over Jackson’s
mild objections that Gasol might not have the strength necessary to battle
inside as Jackson
saw fit.

Again, more effusive praise and deflecting of credit, rather
than essentially re-telling the introductory chapters to his best-selling
books. A very impressive afternoon out, for Phil.

Oh, yeah. Basketball. He also discussed why he likes to take
the ball out in the backcourt in late-game situations, admitting that "it’s not
that usual in this game," and that he doesn’t like to in-bound the ball in the
frontcourt because it often results in a "stagnant" possession.

Stan Van Gundy, on the other hand, and by his own admission,
is not "a big storyteller," and his attempt at re-telling Greg LeMond’s
comeback win in the 1989 Tour de France fell a bit short.

What Van Gundy is brilliant at is chasing away reporter’s
dreams, and their attempts at an easy column storyline. Consider:

"Which team in this
situation is more loose? You guys are usually, but the Lakers have the cushion,
but you guys are in survival mode."

"I would say to that I think it’s irrelevant.  I don’t think being loose, being tight,
that’s not going to have anything to do with it.  I don’t think our guys will play tight.  We’ll just play."

"You think you’ve
faced these questions of players all season, how mentally tough they are.  Do you think this postseason forever puts
that to rest, or do you have to keep - "

"No, it never puts anything to rest because whatever ââ
look, whatever people’s perceptions are of certain players, certain teams,
whatever, I mean, it’s like they say about anybody with sort of first
impressions, they just never go away no matter how many times you prove it to
the contrary.  And plus I always stand in
amazement of a lot of people’s ability to continue to have opinions that absolutely
stand in the way of all facts and evidence. 
I mean, it’s an amazing quality some people have to be able to ignore
every piece of evidence and fact and still have their opinion."

Van Gundy mused aloud about the oddity behind there being
more negativity surrounding a team that most recently lost a game in the Finals
that a squad "that has been
home for two months." He continued:

"There’s no
problem with any of those players, they’re all winners.  But the guys who are here and lose in The
Finals, then we’ve got to find something wrong with them."

In a
complete (and understandable) turnaround from his mood after Game 4, when he
criticized his own team’s "stupidness" (throwing himself in that mix, it should
be pointed out), Hedo Turkoglu was rather cheerful following Magic practice.

He answered
"why not?," when asked about being the first squad to win a Finals after being
in a 1-3 hole, and told the press that "right now I’m just happy to be
in this situation."

Why?

"Because
it’s a good time to show our character as a group.  It’s a good time right now.  We’re a good team.  We’ve bounced back from a lot of
difficulties, so this is a good one to learn from.  So I hope everybody really responds their
best and we’ll get the win and go back to LA."

Kobe
Bryant, shockingly, was all basketball in his sit-down session. He (kindly, it
should be noted) chased away any insinuation that he would opt out of the
remaining year of his contract this summer, dismissed any thoughts about even
attempting to match Bill Russell’s 11 or Michael Jordan’s six NBA championships
("I’m just trying to get this damn fourth one").

He talked
up Dwight Howard’s strength, talked down the significance of Mickael Pietrus’
late-game foul on Pau Gasol, and delicately handled a Chinese reporter’s
mention of the number eight as "a lucky number in China," despite Bryant (who
wore that number for the first ten years of his career) wearing number 24 since
2006.

Bryant did
this with an ease and sense of humor that we haven’t seen in a few weeks,
losing that perpetual scowl that has been a post-game and off-day trademark
since the Finals began. We’ll see how that translates to Sunday’s potential
close-out Game 5.

UPDATE: Though we have seen the clip of Jackson talking to Doris Burke between quarters one and two of Game 4, and thought it obvious he was complaining about the refereeing, it didn’t feel like a finable offense. And we can’t remember what Jackson said well enough to quote him. Either way, Stu Jackson didn’t like it, and fined Jackson and the Lakers $25,000 each.

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