"I humbly submit I was the leader" - Mark Jackson says he was the alpha of the legendary Knicks and Pacers teams that pushed Jordan to the brink

Yahoo

6 days ago

Before the New York Knicks and Indiana Pacers were gripped by the fierce Eastern Conference rivalry that defined the 1990s, Mark Jackson had already earned his stripes as one of New York's toughest floor generals.
From the hardwood of Madison Square Garden to the high-stakes battles in Market Square Arena, he was orchestrating culture, order and confrontation. He was a team leader.
A leader in all
Those teams gave Michael Jordan's Chicago Bulls trouble and were among the few squads that made the dynasty sweat. And for Jackson, his role wasn't just about assists or game tempo. It was about command.
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"We certainly had leadership in Patrick Ewing and Reggie Miller," the 6'1'' guard said. "But I humbly submit I was the leader in form of verbally, vocally, holding guys accountable, giving instructions and things like that."
The humility might be in the phrasing, but there's nothing modest about the truth he's laying down. Mark was the architect of chemistry on both squads, a man who understood the weight of the point guard position beyond stats.
His leadership wasn't always spotlighted, but it was felt in the locker room, on the bench and during timeouts when the game tilted between chaos and control.
"Action" entered the league in 1987 and won Rookie of the Year with the Knicks, averaging 13.6 points and 10.6 assists per game. By the time the Pacers made their deep playoff runs in the late '90s, he was the veteran glue binding egos and expectations.
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In those brutal playoff series against Chicago, it wasn't just the Xs and Os but mental warfare. And few handled that terrain better than Jackson. The 1993 Knicks, for instance, pushed the Bulls to a 2-0 hole before Jordan clawed back with vengeance. And again, in 1998, Jackson's Pacers came within one game — Game 7 of the Eastern Conference finals — of dethroning a Bulls team that would go on to have six titles to its name.
Related: "I just got tired of hearing it and just thought it was best for me to move on" - Patrick Ewing admits he regrets leaving the Knicks out of spite
Jackson's leadership
In the midst of icons like Patrick Ewing, whose fierce low-post presence was New York's heartbeat, or Reggie Miller, whose sharpshooting and trash talk became a legend, Jackson's voice was the one calling out rotations, demanding defensive effort, managing emotions. His version of leadership was both steady and sharp-edged.
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"So, there's different brands of leadership," the veteran guard added.
He wasn't Ewing's enforcer or Miller's spotlight magnet. But in a locker room loaded with outsized personas, his leadership carved out a different lane. The kind that doesn't show up in box scores but shows up when a timeout breaks a 10-0 run, when a rookie doesn't know his rotation, or when a franchise is one loss away from implosion.
"Action's" voice was persistent and piercing. With the Knicks, he played under Pat Riley, whose militaristic approach demanded structure and resilience. Jackson delivered both, often absorbing the intensity from Riley and translating it to his teammates in more digestible, day-to-day language.
Later, with the Pacers under Larry Bird, the mission shifted, but the stakes remained. Indiana was trying to become the Eastern Conference's top franchise. Mark helped them believe they could.
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By 1998, when the Pacers met the Bulls in what would be Chicago's final championship run of the Jordan era, the St. John's product was one of their oldest players on the floor. He averaged 8.5 assists and played all 82 games that season. That seven-game series remains one of the most dramatic of the decade — and Jackson's fingerprints were all over it.
Related: Michael Jordan warned the NBA about pushing the "next MJ" narrative: "There's a danger to that, the credibility of the game can take a hit"