Results tagged “Phil Jackson” from The Sports Desk

One in an occasional series about the people behind the Los Angeles Newspaper Group's sports bylines:

When Elliott Teaford began his first season on the Lakers beat for the Los Angeles Newspaper Group, he had no idea it would still be going and hitting its dramatic peak here in June. Teaford, 46, who was born in Milwaukee and grew up in Philadelphia, has spent his entire sportswriting career in Southern California and has covered high school sports, major-league baseball and hockey as well as basketball. But he says none of those experiences matched this one, on which he been on the scene practically every day watching the Lakers rise from the controversy of last summer to the NBA Finals that open Thursday in Boston. Elliott is used to asking the questions, not answering them. But he had some interesting thoughts when I posed some questions to him on-line ...

My Wednesday column is about how these Boston Celtics aren't the Celtics we're used to. How in fact nothing about the upcoming Lakers-Celtics series is as it was in the 1960s and '80s. And what that means for what we're going to see starting Thursday night. Read on. Then tell me what you think.

The poll is still open if you'd like to weigh in on what's most significant about the Lakers-Celtics NBA Finals. Click here to vote.

My vote? I say the most significant thing -- especially in the long run -- is either Phil Jackson's shot at his 10th NBA championship or Kobe Bryant's attempt to win a title without Shaquille O'Neal.