The coach never thought he would get a second chance with the team, and says he never anticipated he would be the one steering them to a championship.

By Mike Bresnahan
June 15, 2009

Reporting from Orlando, Fla. -- Phil Jackson was immersed in a two-month trek that included stops in Bora Bora, New Zealand and Australia, where he caught lobsters and cooked them under the stars with one of his former players, Luc Longley.

Never in the early stages of 2005 did he envision returning to the Lakers, who had signed Rudy Tomjanovich to a five-year, $30-million deal as Jackson's successor in the summer of 2004.



But Tomjanovich quit abruptly in February 2005, and Jackson returned to the Lakers four months later. He thought he would eventually take the Lakers to the doorstep of a championship, but no further.

Then came Sunday night, and Jackson won his 10th NBA championship as a coach, passing legendary Boston Celtics Coach Red Auerbach.

Jackson, 63, in his 18th season of coaching in the NBA, had never gone this long without winning a title, his last coming in 2002 when the Lakers swept New Jersey.


source : http://www.latimes.com