Editor’s note: This is the Friday July 9 edition of the Purple & Bold Lakers newsletter from reporter Kyle Goon. To receive the newsletter in your inbox, sign up here.
One of the NBA’s quiet, respected streaks came to an end this season when the Lakers were drummed out of the first round by the Phoenix Suns: Lakers assistant coach Phil Handy, 49, ended a streak of six straight Finals appearances, during which he won three rings with the Cleveland Cavaliers, the Toronto Raptors and, of course, Los Angeles.
You will not find Handy, however, wallowing now that the streak has ended. Shortly after the Lakers bowed out, the renowned skills coach shared a social media post of his three championship rings resting on his countertop — lasting tokens of memories he plans to keep forever.
When you go to the Finals every year, Handy told Southern California News Group, sometimes that keeps you from being able to look back. For the first time in seven years, he finally was able to appreciate the one-of-a-kind ride he went on.
“I hadn’t really had a chance to really reflect on it until it was over,” he said. “People don’t know how hard it is to make the Finals, let alone win.”
Andre Iguodala, who won three titles with the Warriors dynasty and reached the Finals with Miami last year, is the only man to match Handy’s feat in the previous six years. But winning with three different franchises helps set the assistant’s journey apart. Asking Handy to pick a favorite championship? It’s like picking a favorite child, each one special in its own way.
The 3-1 comeback against the 72-win Warriors? The first title won by a Canadian team? The first (and hopefully only) bubble championship?
“Every one of those are extreme circumstances,” Handy laughed.
Handy’s best memory might just be the one he doesn’t exactly remember. He famously gave an impassioned speech after Game 2 of the 2016 Finals, which helped spur the team to a Game 3 win over Golden State in a series they would win in seven games.
If he had to give that fiery address again, which stirred up those Cavaliers to be more competitive, he probably couldn’t reconstruct it: “I had a blackout moment,” Handy said, a totally from-the-heart delivery that he couldn’t replicate if he tried.
“I just remember being highly charged, highly emotional, yelling and screaming,” he said. “When I was done, I was drained — I was physically and emotionally drained. I’m just a competitor, man.”
But that first championship, which helped mint Handy as one of the NBA’s most coveted skill and development coaches, will always be particularly sweet: “What we were up against, what it meant to the city of Cleveland, how we did it — that was special.”
A whirlwind year in Toronto under Nick Nurse is its own journey, but the flashbulb moment of that run isn’t the last win of the season. Handy had a courtside view of one of the most iconic shots in NBA history: the four-bounce Game 7 game-winner by Kawhi Leonard that eked the Raptors past Philadelphia in the second round.
Handy acknowledged that it was the toughest series of Toronto’s 2019 run, and led by Jimmy Butler, the Sixers had made the Raptors fight for every inch. The final shot seemed to last forever in his mind: Cameras from the time show Handy standing behind the bench in rapt attention like 20,000 other people in the arena.
“When Kawhi shot that shot, everything froze,” he said. “It seemed like 30 seconds. The arena went silent. Everything just stopped. And then when it went in, just chaos.”
When looking back at the Lakers’ 2020 run, it’s hard not to feel shortchanged: Handy has been in championship parades before, and after that season, the city of Los Angeles deserved one: “The city was robbed. The organization was robbed. Just not being able to celebrate with the fans and their families — a lot was taken from everybody who went to (the bubble), and then we didn’t get to celebrate it.”
But what stands out about that particular postseason was the focus and attentiveness of the Lakers roster: From one to 17, Handy said, he’s never seen a more motivated group, even down to those who didn’t play. One of the biggest difference-makers, to his eyes, was Rajon Rondo, who he called “as locked in as any player or coach I’ve ever been around.”
The peak was Game 6, the clinching Finals match when the Lakers stormed back from a disappointing last-second Game 5 defeat to mow down Miami. They outscored the Heat 36-16 in the second quarter, leaving no doubt that they would be the champions.
Handy said remembering those huddles gives him chills a year later.
“Frank was always throughout the course of the game just not playing the score, focusing on, ‘How do we play? What’s our habits?’ That was our message. Handy said. “It was, ‘Forget about the score. Let’s continue to hone in.’ Rondo was barking, LeBron was barking: ‘Don’t be looking at the score!’”
Turning 50 next month, Phil Handy figures to be a part of other memorable runs. While he’s made no indication that he is leaving Los Angeles, he does have ambitions to be a head coach someday. Two people with knowledge of the situation told SCNG that Handy interviewed for the Washington Wizards head coaching job last month. More such interviews are likely in the coming years for a coach who has been on a number of winning staffs.
Even though he’s not coaching in this Finals, Handy said he’s not sweating the streak ending. He’s just glad it happened.
“My post was more about counting your blessings: it takes luck, it takes health,” he said. “Being able to really reflect on it was a powerful moment for me.”
— Kyle Goon
Editor’s note: Thanks for reading the Purple & Bold Lakers newsletter from reporter Kyle Goon. To receive the newsletter in your inbox, sign up here.