Jalen Rose fires back at Phil Jackson after being mentioned in Kobe statue speech
Former Los Angeles Lakers head coach Phil Jackson speaks during a ceremony for the unveiling of a statue for former Los Angeles Lakers guard Kobe Bryant at Star Plaza outside of Crypto.com Arena.
Jalen Rose did not appreciate being name-dropped by Phil Jackson during Jackson’s speech this week.
Hall of Fame coaching legend Phil Jackson was one of the speakers on Thursday at the Los Angeles Lakers’ unveiling ceremony for their statue of the late Kobe Bryant. Jackson, Bryant’s coach on the Lakers for 11 total seasons, shared some great anecdotes about Bryant’s career. During his roughly 11-minute speech, Jackson also mentioned the retired ex-NBA swingman Rose twice.
Jackson noted how Rose had infamously stepped under Bryant during the 2000 NBA Finals, causing Bryant to sprain his ankle. Additionally, Jackson made a joke about the Lakers developing a gameplan to attack Rose during Bryant’s 81-point game against Rose and the Toronto Raptors in 2006.
You can hear both of Jackson’s mentions of Rose at the 4:40 and 8:00 marks in the video below.
Rose was not happy about being brought up by Jackson and fired back at the 78-year-old in a video post to social media.
“Phil Jackson, all I know is this. For my brother to play 20 years and you to go out of your way to mention me twice,” said a snickering Rose. “Thank you by the way, but also it reminded me of something. A hit dog gon holla! Sorry, not sorry.”
With the phrase “a hit dog gon holla,” Rose appears to be hinting that he did something to get under Jackson’s skin and that Jackson is now lashing out at him. Other than their playoff battles against each other (in that 2000 Finals series and in 2007 when Rose was with the Phoenix Suns as they defeated Jackson and the Lakers in the first round), Rose has publicly criticized Jackson in the recent past.
Most notably, Rose ripped Jackson for saying that he had stopped watching the NBA after the 2020 bubble because it had become too political for him.
Rose was actually close with Bryant before Bryant’s death in January 2020 and even poked fun at himself for getting the 81 dropped on his head. But it appears to be a very different story between Rose and Jackson.
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