OAKLAND, Calif. – The Golden State Warriors' Carl Landry was driving to the Oracle Arena as quickly as he could on a late Saturday afternoon, knowing that he might be suspended or fined by coach Mark Jackson. Upon Landry's 15-minute late arrival to a pregame walk-through, Jackson told Landry to take part in the session while in street clothes. Jackson didn't ask for an explanation for the tardiness. Once it was over, Landry apologized to Jackson and his teammates and promised such a mistake would never happen again. Landry received no fine and played in the Warriors' 101-83 victory over the Boston Celtics last month.

Warriors players say that Jackson's understanding of human error, refusal to curse and degrade them, and the team's family atmosphere are the top reasons he's beloved by them. And the team has rewarded its second-year coach this season with a 23-13 record, the franchise's best start since the 1991-92 campaign. The NBA's biggest surprise – a group Jackson calls "dangerous" with or without Andrew Bogut, who is out indefinitely with an ankle injury – seeks a season sweep of the Miami Heat on Wednesday night at home.

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"Usually, a coach will fine you or limit your minutes for that game or possibly not even play you," Landry said. "I've been in situations like that before where some of my teammates got fined, suspended or whatever the case may be. But Coach just said we accept your apology and don't let it happen again. We got by it, we ended up winning.

"But nobody is perfect. There are going to be times where other guys might be late or things might happen. It's not perfect, but coach Jackson is just a cool coach. He knows I didn't do it intentionally and he just let it go."

To understand Jackson's coaching style, you have to go back nearly 22 years when he caused a stir in New York after publicly criticizing then-Knicks interim coach John MacLeod, who relegated him to backup with limited minutes behind veteran Maurice Cheeks. In response, Jackson said that MacLeod and then- general manager Al Bianchi "pointed their finger at my chest, cussed me out and disrespected me" while he stretched with teammates before a practice.

Jackson responded by cursing at them, Bianchi told New York reporters back then, a charge Jackson denies to this day. The Knicks gave Jackson a two-game suspension without pay for insubordination. Jackson said he eventually got his money back after an investigation was done when Dave Checketts later became president of the Knicks and Pat Riley was coach.

"You live and you learn," Jackson said. "I'm not sitting here and telling you I was perfect. I was a young guy who wasn't playing as much as I should. But I've always played for coaches whose daily routine was to cuss a guy out. I just don't agree with it."

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Jackson has kept that same frame of mind as the Warriors' coach.

"I'm never going to hang them out to dry," Jackson said. "I'm never going to point the finger. I'm going to tell the truth.

"I never got it, even as a player, how a coach can cuss a player out or disrespect him and I'm a grown man with a wife and kids. But I'm out of line if I do the same thing to you? You can make the point just by talking to me.

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