"Maybe you'll hear the comment he had great players," Magic coach Stan Van Gundy said. "First of all, I don't know of a team that's ever won it once that doesn't have great players. I mean, tell me the team that didn't have great players that won a championship. I'm unaware. And yeah, he's had great players, but the guy wins all the time.

"If you have Kobe and those guys and you're losing, OK, maybe they can talk about it. But that guy is winning all the time. You can't give him short shrift. Damn, you look at the guy's record, it's undeniable."

All that is left to debate is how he did it. It is undeniable that he has won his way, sitting above his assistants and players on his back-support high chair that the Phoenix Suns coaches once sneered was his "throne." Jackson has long inspired that sort of thing, largely because he never seemed to appreciate the blessings of the talent entrusted to him.

As he neared the record, however, that has changed, and he has spoken effusively about the great players that he has coached. He spoke more about his mentors, Red Holzman, Bill Fitch and Tex Winter, and his assistants and all that he entrusts to them.

Though his personal style remains rare in coaching, more camp counselor than old-school coach in the Auerbach way, he has that same sort of intense competitiveness that can be considered typical.

In many ways, that is the lesson of his success. The style doesn't matter — assuming the drive and expertise are there. It is about being true to oneself, never faking an act that players see through before the first long road trip.

Jackson is, for whatever someone thinks of his manner, genuine. You can't fake this for nearly two decades. But in many ways, he still thinks of himself as an athlete, as a role player on Holzman's Knicks teams that cherished teamwork and one another, coaching the way he would want to be coached.

"I think it's his ability to bring people together," Bryant said, offering the praise many had about Holzman decades ago. "That's the biggest thing that he does so well is he continues to coach the group, continues to coach unity and chemistry and togetherness, and that's the biggest thing, because when you're together, you can withstand adversity. If you're not, you can easily break apart and become a team of individuals. That's his biggest characteristic of what he does well."

Jackson also coaches with unrelenting confidence and high expectations of himself, his staff and his players. By now, everyone in the league knows the triangle offense. He and his coaches have mastered teaching it. His belief in his way is unshakeable, and his belief in his players has made him slow to rescue them with timeouts, slower to give up on them.

"I guess the best way to sum it up," Derek Fisher said, "would just be that Phil's belief in his players, I think, far outweighs any other coach that I've played for in terms of his willingness to allow the players to be players and make the plays."

When the 10th title was his, he wore a cap with the Roman numeral 10 that his children had given him.

He said he would smoke a victory cigar in Auerbach's honor in what sounded part homage, part one-upsmanship. He had already been soaked in champagne, his longest wait between titles over.

"He's very excited about it, absolutely, extremely excited about it," Bryant said. "You can tell. You can see it in his eyes how ecstatic he is.

"It's been a long time since he had a champagne bath, and I knew that, so I made sure he became part of our circle and we got him pretty good. He took his glasses off, threw his head back and soaked it all in because this is a special time, and for us to be the team that got him that historic 10th championship is special for us."

He finally admitted it was special for him, too.

"I really feel strongly that this is about (the players)," Jackson said. "However, having won 10 championships is a remarkable accomplishment, there's no doubt about it."

The rest of us, however, can no longer argue about who has been basketball's best coach.

He has not, however, ended all debate. He simply has changed it.

Now we can argue whether he has surpassed Vince Lombardi, Casey Stengel and Scotty Bowman, too.