Phil Jackson, L.A. Lakers
First year with Lakers, 10th year overall
Playoff record: 122-47
Best Finish: NBA Champions (1991, 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 1998)

Larry Bird, Indiana
Third year with Pacers, third year overall
Playoff record: 30-16
Best Finish: This season, taking Pacers to first NBA Finals

Western Conference finals: If they go on to win the championship, the Lakers can look back at the fourth period of the Game 7 against the Blazers and find a big reason why. Down by 16 points with just more than a period to go, the Lakers pulled off one of the great playoff rallies of all-time, capped by a key Kobe Bryant jumper and an alley-oop slam by Shaq on a perfect pass from Bryant. Though the Kobe comparisons to MJ are generally premature, he looked a lot like the Bull superstar in this one, calmly taking over the game in the fourth and leading the Lakers to game highs in points (25), rebounds (11) and assists (seven).
Western Conference finals overview

Second round: They were shaken again in the second round by Phoenix. It took a Kobe Bryant hanger with 3 seconds left to win Game 2 and a fourth-quarter rally to take Game 3. A couple disturbing trends emerged in the series for Phil Jackson's boys. No. 1, the defense was riddled by the quick perimeter Phoenix players (Portland's got a ton of them, too) -- Penny Hardaway, Jason Kidd and Cliff Robinson. Secondly, an old one was back: Shaq wasn't coming through at the free-throw line when the games were still undecided.
Second-round overview

First round: Phil Jackson wanted the bullet-proof Lakers to suffer some adversity and they got it in the first round with Sacramento, getting pushed to the decisive fifth game. But the dominant Lakers again emerged to easily win that one, 113-86, and once again looked like the favorite to win the NBA title.
First-round overview

Eastern Conference finals: The Pacers finally beat their old nemesis, the hobbled Knicks, to make their first trip to the Finals. In four of the past six years Indiana had failed in the East finals, but this time it was Reggie Miller who beat the team he despises so much with a flurry of fourth-quarter 3-pointers at Madison Square Garden. Miller scored 25 of his game-high 34 points in the second half of the decisive Game 6 and averaged 21.8 points a game in the series, a notch above Jalen Rose's 19.
Eastern Conference finals overview

Second round: The Pacers allowed Philly to flirt with history as the Sixers climbed out of an 0-3 hole to make it an interesting series and threaten to become the first team to dig out of that ditch in the playoffs. But the Pacers came through in Game 6, recapturing their dominance exhibited in the first three victories of the series. The series was marred by Reggie Miller's fracas with Matt Geiger in Game 4, which resulted in the Pacers star being suspended for Game 5. Miller was back for the sixth game and so was his team.
Second-round overview

First round: They made their fans nervous with the drawn-out five-game set with Milwaukee in the opening round, showing their slowness in some brutal stretches. But they avoided becoming the third No. 1 seed in NBA history to lose to a No. 8. Backup point guard Travis Best had the series-clinching 3-pointer with 16 seconds left in Game 5.
First-round overview