Jackson’s take

By Gary Dzen

November 23, 2007

1 minute to read

Lakers coach Phil Jackson isn’t afraid to face the 9-1 Celtics tonight.

“This is as good a time as any to meet this team,” said Jackson. “We want to check our game out, see how we stand up. It’s a nice matchup.”

Jackson was asked how this Celtics team would look in the West. He wasn’t convinced the Celtics have “arrived” just yet.

“I’m not going to draw comparisons yet,” said Jackson. “They’ve had a good run on their home court. Six of their games have been here. I don’t know how well they’re playing. I’ve seen them play a couple times. They’ve played some outstanding games. They blew out New Jersey. They’ve had some big wins. They seem to have their three players, their stars, scoring at a good clip. That seems to be a pretty good menu for success. We’re going to have to hopefully cut one of them out of the mix tonight.”
Like Don Nelson earlier this week, Jackson wasn’t surprised that this Celtics team has played strong defense thus far.

“I think the players that they’ve got are players that are committed to working hard,” he said. “Allen and Garnett are well-schooled. Garnett’s an exceptional defensive player and rebounder. I don’t think playing defense is going to be any mystery for them. It’s about the players that they’ve had in the past, who lacked success over the course of the years, but they’ve only got [six] guys left from the team. Posey, House, they’re all new. Posey’s a good defender. So they went out and found some guys who can play defense who are going to help them.”