Jeanie, Not Jerry, Is the Buss That Drives Lakers' Jackson

ORLANDO

Now that Phil Jackson is one win from coaching immortality, the story can be told:

He didn't return for Red Auerbach's record. Or Kobe Bryant's legacy. Or money.

He came back for -- cue strumming harp -- a woman.

"Without that relationship, he's not the coach today," Lakers General Manager Mitch Kupchak said a few days before the team was on the cusp of its 15th NBA title and fourth of this decade. "If that's not in place, he's not here."

Wait. So, if Phil wasn't in love with Jeanie Buss, the daughter of owner Jerry Buss, a Lakers executive and one half of America's most powerful sporting couple, there is no Siddhartha presence in the locker room? No closing in on a 10th NBA coaching title -- one more than Auerbach's nine with the Boston Celtics?

"That's true," Jackson said. "I would always say 'the Buss family' because I don't want to put it out there. But that's right."

Remember "The Fish That Saved Pittsburgh," the cornball 1979 sports movie with Julius Erving, about an astrologer named Mona Mondieu who becomes the architect of an outhouse-to-penthouse team?

Jeanie is essentially the Woman Who Saved L.A. -- minus Stockard Channing's gypsy outfit.

"She's the Buss that transported Phil back to L.A.," Jackson said through a deep cackle.

And for luring Phil out of retirement, she gets . . .