With Deflategate still dominating Super Bowl week headlines, a 28-year-old Phil Jackson revelation about the legendary early 1970s Knicks teams deflating balls for their own benefit has been unearthed.
According to Jackson himself, who played for the Knicks from 1967-1978 and won a championship with the team in 1973, the Knicks would slightly deflate balls to give their smaller team a better chance at collecting rebounds.
Phil Jackson, quoted in 1986, saying that championship New York Knicks teams intentionally deflated basketballs: pic.twitter.com/wJqAnC6fRQ
— Todd Radom (@ToddRadom) January 28, 2015
It's funny to see a piece from 1986 - when he was merely an ex-player and a coach for the Albany Patroons - already referring to the future Zen Master as "cerebral," and "every bit as metaphysical as he was physical."
