Legendary NBA head coach Phil Jackson could arguably be the greatest coach in league history. He won 11 championships as a coach, leading the Lakers to five titles and the Bulls to six titles.
If the 11 championships aren’t enough to make Jackson the GOAT of NBA coaching, he also stakes claims to one of the longest coaching win streak in the modern era. Out of his 11 titles, six of them came without a single playoff series loss in the middle. This starts with the second Bulls’ three-peat from 1996 to 1998 to the Lakers’ three-peat from 2000 to 2002.
Let’s see all playoff series Phil Jackson and his teams, the Chicago Bulls and the Los Angeles Lakers, have won from May 1, 1996 to May 15, 2003, when the Spurs defeated the Lakers.
1996 NBA Playoffs
Bulls vs. Heat: 3-0 (Eastern Conference First Round)
Bulls vs. Knicks: 4-1 (Eastern Conference Semifinals)
Bulls vs. Magic: 4-0 (Eastern Conference Finals)
Bulls vs. SuperSonics: 4-2 (NBA Finals)
1997 NBA Playoffs
Bulls vs. Wizards: 3-0 (Eastern Conference First Round)
Bulls vs. Hawks: 4-1 (Eastern Conference Semifinals)
Bulls vs. Heat: 4-1 (Eastern Conference Finals)
Bulls vs. Jazz: 4-2 (NBA Finals)
1998 NBA Playoffs
Bulls vs. Nets: 3-0 (Eastern Conference First Round)
Bulls vs. Hornets: 4-1 (Eastern Conference Semifinals)
Bulls vs. Pacers: 4-3 (Eastern Conference Finals)
Bulls vs. Jazz: 4-2 (NBA Finals)
Jackson took a break for the 1998-99 NBA season, taking a year off after the Bulls disbanded with Michael Jordan retiring, Scottie Pippen moving to the Rockets, and Dennis Rodman being released, retiring after small stints with the Lakers and Mavericks.
Jackson would join the Lakers to take Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal to their championship destiny, which he did without a single playoff series loss in his first three tries.
2000 NBA Playoffs
Lakers vs. Kings: 3-2 (Western Conference First Round)
Lakers vs. Suns: 4-1 (Western Conference Semifinals)
Lakers vs. Trail Blazers: 4-3 (Western Conference Finals)
Lakers vs. Pacers: 4-2 (NBA Finals)
2001 NBA Playoffs
Lakers vs. Trail Blazers: 3-0 (Western Conference First Round)
Lakers vs. Kings: 4-0 (Western Conference Semifinals)
Lakers vs. Spurs: 4-0 (Western Conference Finals)
Lakers vs. 76ers: 4-1 (NBA Finals)
2002 NBA Playoffs
Lakers vs. Trail Blazers: 3-0 (Western Conference First Round)
Lakers vs. Spurs: 4-1 (Western Conference Semifinals)
Lakers vs. Kings: 4-3 (Western Conference Finals)
Lakers vs. Nets: 4-0 (NBA Finals)
This run of wins ended at the hands of the San Antonio Spurs in the 2003 Playoffs. In the second round, the Spurs managed to overcome the Lakers 4-2 and deal the first loss for Jackson since Shaq’s Orlando Magic in the 1995 Eastern Conference Semifinals.
In that time, Jackson won 90 playoff games and lost just 26 games. He has six titles and two three-peats in this era, not even counting the three-peat he had with the Bulls from 1991 to 1993.
Is Phil Jackson The Greatest Coach In NBA History?
Jackson’s incredible metrics can only really be compared to Red Auerbach’s heroics with the Boston Celtics in the 1960s. However, that was such a different era of basketball that it feels unfair to compare.
Jackson’s closest contemporaries are Gregg Popovich and Steve Kerr. Both coaches put together nine titles to Jackson’s 11, which makes an individual case for either man very hard to make. Maybe Popovich can still claim his all-time win record over Jackson, but Pop never even won two titles in consecutive seasons, let alone go on a six-season winning streak.
Steve Kerr coached the Warriors to a seven-season Western Conference series winning streak, with the Warriors only losing two Finals series in playoff appearances from 2015 to 2022. But he did blow a 3-1 lead to a rookie head coach and failed to make the playoffs in 2020 and 2021. His Western Conference winning streak also came to an end last season.
Jackson never helmed a squad that ended up on the losing end of the playoffs. If this was to be further extended to 1991, Jackson lost just two playoff series over the course of 12 seasons. Patrick Ewing’s Knicks and Shaq’s Orlando were the only teams to beat Jackson in the playoffs.
His coaching dominance over the NBA has put him at a level that no NBA coach will likely ever replicate, making a pretty convincing case for Jackson as the greatest to ever do it.
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