Mark Jackson quells critics (and owner?) as Warriors win
LOS ANGELES — So, Mark Jackson had a good day.
A really good day. The kind of day where no one would blame a guy for gazing in the mirror when he got back to the hotel and popping the old collar a time or two. Or — and this would be way too far but oh-so fun — even indulging one's self in a "I guess I can coach after all" tweet.
But the Golden State Warriors coach will be doing no such thing, even with this 109-105 Game 1 win in the Western Conference first round series against the Los Angeles Clippers that was supposed to be the beginning of his end.
No Andrew Bogut? (The center has a fractured rib.) No support from ownership when it comes to his future? (Joe Lacob has said Jackson, who has one year left on his deal, will be evaluated at season's end.) No problem.
Jackson kept the ship afloat during that early stretch in which the Clippers led 12-1 and navigated the stormy waters of all that foul trouble. Then he turned in the sort of coaching performance that — if he can find a way to repeat it three more times in this series — will force Lacob to have his mind made up for him.
The we-over-me message that the preacher is always preaching inherently precludes Jackson from patting himself on the back, but the line of folks willing to do it for him was Spring Break-in-Disneyland long.
It started long before the game was even over, with Jackson's old broadcasting pal, former head coach and ESPN analyst Jeff Van Gundy, admonishing Lacob on national television for not giving Jackson the contract extension he wanted a year ago. It went deep into the night from there, with anyone in blue and gold who was asked about the coach more than happy to sing his praises.
"(Jackson) did an excellent job of subbing on the fly," said small forward Andre Iguodala, who fouled out and played only 20 minutes, getting his fourth foul midway through the second quarter. "I heard somebody try to say a knock (against Jackson) is X's and O's or rotations, but tonight it was almost perfect. ... The second unit was really good for us, especially in that second quarter. We won that second quarter. You'd think (the second unit would) play a lot in the second half, but (Jackson) saw something he really liked and it got us going in the third."
Veteran center Jermaine O'Neal, an ardent supporter of Jackson's who had 13 points in 25 minutes, added, "I think (Jackson) did a great job on managing minutes tonight. I think he did a great job of going with the team's five guys who were really rolling, and not necessarily going with a substitution pattern. That's what these playoffs are about. ... The playoffs is about a mental battle, a chess game where ultimately at the end of the day the person with the best moves for the series is going to win this series.
"We're so well coached. We're so well put together that we hear no evil, see no evil (when it comes to the criticism). That's really what it is. We don't hear all the hoopla around us. We don't care much about that. We care about winning."
That's where Jackson and Lacob see eye to eye, of course, with the desire to win. But the fourth-year owner wants to win it all, so it is that he has chosen not to hand out long-term security simply because these Warriors are so much better than most Warriors teams of the recent past.
Yes, their 51-31 regular season record is the best since the 1991-92 Warriors went 55-27 — the last time the Warriors reached the playoffs two consecutive seasons. Yes, his players clearly support and play for him. But like it or not, Jackson, whose cause certainly was not helped with all the assistant coach drama in the Warriors' world of late, is being judged.
Lacob will keep watching and waiting. He'll seek counsel from his revered consultant, legendary player and executive Jerry West, and make the cold and calculated decision that he bought the right to make when his group paid a then-league record $450 million.
"When I speak to Joe, he likes what we have," O'Neal said. "But hey, it's a different era right now. We have a new breed of owners in our league and their patience is a lot shorter. So I don't know ultimately what his plan is — that's up to him. He pays the bills. He can do whatever he wants to do with his team. But from the conversations I've had with him, he likes Mark."
It's hard not to when he gets results like this.
Should the Warriors continue on from here and knock these Clippers into the offseason's abyss, it would be a greater achievement than the first-round upset they pulled off a year ago against the Danilo Gallinari-less Denver Nuggets (also a sixth-seed vs. third-seed matchup).
They are the ones undermanned this time, and the Clippers are the ones who made all the upgrades for their championship pursuit. Doc Rivers helped Chris Paul find another MVP-caliber level (when he was healthy). Blake Griffin was more dominant than ever. DeAndre Jordan was brought back into the program after enduring so many trust issues with former coach Vinny Del Negro. New additions such as J.J. Redick fit in as well as planned.
All that quality work was put in to get the home-court edge, and it's gone in an instant because Jackson's Warriors rallied behind the coach they swear by yet again.
"I'm proud of my guys," Jackson said. "We're not going to quit."
