ORLANDO, Fla. - Randy Auerbach has grown tired of all the cars in Los Angeles driving by with Lakers flags hanging out the windows and all the talk on television that her father is about to be passed in NBA titles. But by the looks of things, it seems inevitable that her father's 43-year-old record will be broken - as early as tonight.
Celtics patriarch Red Auerbach is tied with Lakers coach Phil Jackson for the most NBA titles as a coach with nine. But if the Lakers defeat the Magic in Game 5 of the NBA Finals tonight at Amway Arena, Jackson will surpass Auerbach. With all due respect to Jackson, Randy Auerbach said she and her sister, Nancy, do not believe it's fair to compare her father's legacy with Jackson's. And Jackson agrees.
``Not to take away from Phil, but it's a different record,'' said Randy Auerbach, who lives in Los Angeles. ``You're talking about a record with one team in which he won the first one and then won in eight consecutive years. Phil did it with two different teams and it wasn't consistently. It's about quantity. If that's his case, good for him.
``But it has to be broken down. It's a different record. How do you compare eight in a row, nine in 10 years?''
Auerbach won his first title with the Celtics in 1957, didn't win the next year, then won eight straight through the 1965-66 season. He then passed the coaching torch to Bill Russell, who won titles two of the next three seasons as a player-coach.
``Red probably could have won two or three more championships,'' said Jackson. ``But I think Bill, to kind of keep him involved, he turned the team over to Bill in that general manager role and Bill went on to win a couple more championships, playing and coaching at that time. So it's completely different.
``Of course, free agency wasn't part of the game. It was eight and then expanded to 10 teams at that time. Maybe it was nine there and then went to 10. So it was a different league entirely.''
Jackson won six titles with the Chicago Bulls. He also coached the Lakers to three straight titles from 2000-02.
Jackson, who also won a title as a player with the New York Knicks in 1973, was blessed to have such players as Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen, and Dennis Rodman with the Bulls and Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O'Neal with the Lakers. Auerbach likewise had a long list of great players in Russell, John Havlicek, Bob Cousy, Tom Heinsohn, Sam Jones, K.C. Jones, Don Nelson, and many others.
Bryant said it's silly to suggest that Jackson is only as good as his players.
``I can't name one coach that won a championship with a bunch of scrubs, so that argument makes no sense,'' Bryant said.
Asked whether Jackson was a great coach or lucky, Bryant said, ``Coach Auerbach also had a lot of lucky, very fortunate situations. But you have to have that. They've got to go hand in hand.
``But in my opinion, [Jackson] is the best.''
Auerbach, who died in 2006, used to exchange phone calls with his two daughters during Finals games that the Celtics were not involved in. During the 2009 Finals, Randy and Nancy are keeping that tradition alive, as they've been rooting for the Magic and refusing to cheer for the Celtics' bitter rivals.
The Auerbach daughters can't help but get a rise in their blood pressure when the ABC commentators mention that Jackson could pass Auerbach. But Randy Auerbach did see a silver lining if the Lakers win tonight.
``If they win, they won't win it at home,'' she said. ``That takes a little air out of it.''
