The crowd at Madison Square Garden was mighty glad to see Phil Jackson when he was introduced at the Knicks-Pacers game last week. The ‘Zen Master’, as Jackson is known as received a hardy round of applause which turned into a raucous standing ovation. Mr. Jackson seemed very pleased.
Of course this was not the first time that Phil Jackson has received applause at the Garden. He was a second round pick by the Knicks in the 1967 NBA Draft and stayed with the team for 11 years through 1978.
During his tenure with the Knicks, the team won the NBA Championship Title in 1970 and then again in 1973 so Phil has heard that crowd roar before. However, the ovation in the Garden that night might just have been the loudest and likely the sweetest he had ever received. It was like a big ‘Welcome Home Phil!’
Knicks fans have had little to cheer about this season while watching their team post one of the worst records in living memory. Even with the great Carmelo Anthony heading the team, New York has struggled at every turn and now stand 22 games behind the conference leading Indiana Pacers with no hope at all of making the NBA Playoffs this year.
Along comes the legendary Phil Jackson and already Knicks fans are putting the hope of the franchise squarely on his shoulders. The general consensus is that Jackson will be the ‘savior’ of the New York Knicks franchise. If so, he has got his work cut out for him in the coming months.
When the devout basketball fans at Madison Square Garden stood and applauded Phil Jackson the ovation was part hope and part desperation. Knicks fans are not accustomed to ending up near the bottom of their conference, not at all.
Vital to Jackson’s hope for success in New York will be his relationship with Knicks All-Star Forward Carmelo Anthony, but Carmelo quickly squashed any speculation of problems between the two. “I was hoping that I would be part of the future plans. I never once said that I wanted to leave New York or anything like that.” “I’m excited about the opportunity to hopefully work with Phil.”
For his part, the Knicks new president confirmed that Anthony was in his future plans and that he has ‘another level he can get to’. Both ended by saying that they were ‘on the same page’ and looking forward to next season.
