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Isola: Kobe set for Garden goodbye, Phil lost without ringer

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Phil Jackson won five of his 11 rings with Kobe Bryant, but seems to believe it is his beloved triangle offense, and not the stars running it, most responsible for his success.

Phil Jackson won five of his 11 rings with Kobe Bryant, but seems to believe it is his beloved triangle offense, and not the stars running it, most responsible for his success.

LOS ANGELES — There were early mornings when Phil Jackson would park outside the Lakers practice facility and find Kobe Bryant, his work day already a few hours old, asleep in the car next to him.

“I’d be going to film study at 8:30 and he’d be coming off his first workout that started at six in the morning,” Jackson says. “He’d take a nap between that and the team workout. I had to respect the dedication that he played basketball with. And the desire he had.”

Kobe is the last of the Mohicans, a player with an insatiable appetite for winning and being great. Phil saw it first-hand as five of his 11 championship rings were won with Bryant, a once-in-a-generation talent who on Sunday plays his final game against the Knicks.

“It’ll be interesting,” Jackson added. “I’m anticipating his final game is something that’s going to be really great for him.”

Bryant has a long history with the Knicks. He scored his first-ever NBA point by making a free throw against them. His coach at the time, Del Harris, turned to the media seated courtside at Madison Square Garden and proudly informed the writers that he had also witnessed Kobe’s dad, Joe Bryant, score his first NBA points.

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More than a decade later, Bryant made history when he scored 61 points at the Garden. That record would be broken five years later by his good friend, Carmelo Anthony. Kobe wasn’t on such good terms with Chris Childs, the former Knick who was once ejected from a game at Staples Center for punching Bryant.

Today, Bryant resembles a punch-drunk boxer, his body having betrayed him long ago and his skills now diminished. The Lakers are in a full-blown rebuilding mode during Kobe’s retirement tour and even Jackson admitted that it’s hard to see one of the league’s greatest players go out this way.

“One of the things I told him was I never want to have to coach you at this stage of going out because it can be such a difficult time, not being able to play at the level you want to and not having a team that is competitive,” he said.

Even though Jackson doesn’t talk about it nearly enough, he was blessed to have coached two players — Kobe and Michael Jordan — with a similar skill set and drive. Jackson’s defenders will remind you that neither player won a title before or after being coached by the Zen Master. And yet, Jackson never coached a team that didn’t have two of the top five to 10 players in the league.

Kobe and Phil have had a long and successful relationship, but the Zen Master is finding it harder in his time with the Knicks as they are missing the star power he had at both coaching stops.Andrew D. Bernstein/NBAE/Getty Images

Kobe and Phil have had a long and successful relationship, but the Zen Master is finding it harder in his time with the Knicks as they are missing the star power he had at both coaching stops.

It works both ways and it’s something Jackson should think about on Sunday as he watches Bryant play in the person for the last time. Players like Bryant and Jordan don’t come around often and unless Jackson is able to pull off the coup of the summer by signing either Kevin Durant or LeBron James he’s stuck with building a contender the old-fashioned way.

In one of his rare interviews with reporters on Friday, Jackson was again back to defending the triangle offense and talking about not needing an All Star-caliber point guard. He reminded everyone that the Chicago Bulls didn’t have an elite point guard when they were winning titles and that it was his “two-guard format” that took the league by surprise. No, it was Jordan who took the league by storm. And then it was Bryant.

Jackson clearly wants Kurt Rambis to be coaching the Knicks next season and he’s asking the fans, media and even James Dolan to look past Rambis’ career record, which includes a 32-132 mark in Minnesota.

Circumstance, not necessarily coaching ability, also contributed to Rambis being 100 games under .500.

That’s fair. But when will Jackson acknowledge that his 11 rings weren’t because of his system but because of players like Jordan, Scottie Pippen, Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe?

If Jackson wants the public to have an open mind with Rambis it’s only fair that Jackson has an open mind when it comes to how the game has evolved. The Knicks are a plodding, un-athletic team playing an in antiquated system. When Jackson says that “chasing a point guard” this summer isn’t necessary, that raises a red flag.

The starting point guards of the seven best teams record-wise in the NBA are Stephen Curry, Tony Parker, Kyrie Irving, Russell Westbrook, Chris Paul, Kyle Lowry and Isaiah Thomas. Hopefully, Jackson realizes this.

The NBA is changing. Phil needs to change with it because Kobe and MJ are not walking through that door to save the Knicks.

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