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Frank Hamblen, former Denver Rockets assistant coach, dies at 70

LOS ANGELES — Frank Hamblen, who won seven NBA championships as an assistant to Phil Jackson in Los Angeles and Chicago, died Saturday. He was 70.

The Lakers said Hamblen died in Del Mar. They did not provide a cause of death.

Hamblen helped the Lakers win three straight titles from 2000-02, then back-to-back championships in 2009-10. He also was an assistant to Rudy Tomjanovich in between Jackson’s stints in Los Angeles and was briefly the head coach after Tomjanovich stepped down in February 2005.

Hamblen also spent three seasons as a Bulls assistant, helping them to their final two titles under Jackson in 1997 and ’98.