Phil Jackson Trying Quotations

We couldn't overcome a tough shooting game for Kobe. They threw an extra man at him, and we didn't make good adjustments. Offensively, I don't think we grasped the concepts of what we are trying to do here.

He stayed very well inside of what we're trying to do.

He (Lakers owner Jerry Buss) knew what he was trying to get accomplished, but still in all, it never quite seems to match up.

We had some dramatic plays down the stretch. Kobe stayed very well inside of what we were trying to do. We kind of died on the vine a couple of times when the shot clock was running down. Then we were able to find that penetrating pass. We were able to find a couple of things that worked for us.

I'm not trying to find answers anymore. I'm trying to live what I know.

This is about Phoenix going back to their home court, trying to rally. One win puts things right at the edge again, and we'd have to come back and hold home court, which is a single-game situation. So we know there's a lot of work to be done before we're finished with this thing.

When he's shooting well, I encourage him. We're trying to measure personal achievement with team goals.

Obviously when the threes aren't going it's time to stop shooting them. We kept going to it and got desperate at the end trying to hit home runs. We can't do that.

The NBA has made a real issue about really making these superstars the premium that everybody wants to go to. That's their calling card and their marketing tool. But the coaches at the other end of the sphere are trying to make everybody on the team, even nine, 10, 11, 12, just as important, and have a real role that's meaningful.

We got in a situation where we were waiting for Kobe?s hand to get hot. We started trying to force it in to him and that hurt us. Kobe had a hard time chasing Dixon around screens.