June 5, 2000 SportsLine.com staff

INDIANA	L.A. LAKERS
Larry Bird	Phil Jackson

Larry the player lived for the Finals, demanding the ball from his Celtics teammates when they played for five Championships in the 1980s. Can he instill that same intensity, that same killer instinct in his players who for the most part have never played for all the marbles? Only reserve Sam Perkins has been to the Finals and his '91 Lakers and '96 Sonics both lost.

Jackson has been here and done it ... six times. His calming presence must have been a source of stability for the Lakers when they fell behind the Blazers by 16 points late in Game 7. Jackson wasn't sweating and neither were his players who chipped away in the fourth and finally caught the Blazers in the waning minutes.

Breakdown: Jackson has more than twice as many title rings (six as coach, one as player) than Larry Bird (three as a player) and, more importantly, he's been on this pressure-cooker stage in six of the past nine years ... and won it each time. The big question for Phil is: can he win a title without Michael Jordan, with a center-driven team that is a stark contrast to the perimeter-oriented Bulls.

Edge: Lakers

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