So it ends for Phil Jackson in the worst possible way. On his final day as an NBA coach he wakes up to the news that he has been fined $35,000 by the league for whining about the officiating, and he goes to bed no doubt still thinking about the 36-point beatdown the Mavs put on them.
He walked off the court, though, with his arrogance in tact, still feeling that he was the smartest person in the 20,000-seat arena in Dallas. The I'm the greatest coach alive look.
Jackson has always done it his way, and his way has never been to build a team from the ground up. He always coached teams that had the league's elite -- Jordan, Shaq, Kobe. Jackson never had to use coupons at the supermarket, just fill in around his go-to guy(s) of the hour, keep his stars motivated and collect rings.
Red Auerbach hated Jackson. Hated that Jackson just showed up at the dealership and drove off into the NBA schedule in a luxury car. Hated what he thought was Jackson's smarminess.
It's over now for Jackson, and Jackson's legacy of a string of NBA titles probably won't be tarnished all that much by how his players mailed it in and couldn't even lose his final game with even an ounce of class.
Down deep, though, in his quietest moments, even Jackson will concede to himself that he was not quite the coach that all those rings miight indicate.
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