Phil Jackson’s mind games have begun, and Kevin Durant is none too happy about it.

Los Angeles coach Phil Jackson told reporters Wednesday that Oklahoma City star Kevin Durant gets preferential treatment from referees.

“Yeah, by the calls he gets, he really gets to the line a lot, I’ll tell ya,” Jackson said, according to The Oklahoman’s Web site.

Of course, those of us that have watched Jackson over the years realizes that this is his not-so-subtle attempt at getting into the heads of the officials.

Still, Durant didn’t take the slight kindly.

“I don’t disrespect nobody in this league,” Durant said, according to the report. “I respect every coach, every player, everybody. I never say anything bad about anybody else or question why they do this or do that. So for them to say that about me, I don’t even want to use no foul language.”

“If the refs pay attention to that and change how they call things because of that, that’s terrible,” Durant said, according to the newspaper. “That’s terrible to the game of basketball and to us. If that happens, then [coach] Scotty [Brooks] could talk, too. Or any other coach could talk, too, just so the refs could switch everything up. But I doubt they do that.”

Durant shot 10.2 free throws per game this season, compared to Kobe Bryant’s 7.4, but in Kobe’s heyday — when he would relentlessly attack the rim — he shot 10.1, 10.2 and 10.0 from 2004 to 2007. I wonder if Jackson thought that the Laker superstar got too many calls during that stretch.

Good scorers who are aggressive get to the line. Durant and LeBron James led the league with 10.2 attempts per game, and Dwight Howard was third with 10.0.

Durant is a really tough cover — that’s why he gets to the line.

Photo from fOTOGLIF

In a chat yesterday, Chris Sheridan says he could…

If Kobe Bryant continues to say no to the extension the Lakers are offering him, and if Phil Jackson starts to talk as though he’s leaving, Chicago comes onto the rdar [sic] in a big, big way. Remember, when Kobe was trying to force a trade two and a half years ago, the Bulls were the team working most diligently to get him — right up until two days before the season-opener.

Kobe is probably just saying no to keep his options open, because I think he wants to retire a Laker. There are a couple of problems with a Kobe-to-Chicago move: 1) Both Bryant and Derrick Rose are ball-dominating guards (though, like Dwyane Wade, Kobe is smart enough to find a way to make this work), and 2) if Jackson retires, would Kobe want to play for Vinny Del Negro?

Photo from fOTOGLIF

Per the Los Angeles Times, every season, Phil Jackson gives his teams books to read during extended road trips…

Kobe Bryant, who rolls his eyes whenever Jackson gives him a book, probably won’t be perusing what Jackson handed him: “Montana 1948,” a Larry Watson novel about a middle-class Montana family torn apart by a scandal in the late 1940s.

“He never reads my books so I got him a book about Montana,” Jackson said Thursday. “I’m not looking forward to having a review from him. It was about a part of the country I grew up in, so it was something special for me to give it to him.”

I don’t know why, but this story really cracks me up. As much as I dislike the Lakers as a franchise, I do like Jackson’s style. I find it hilarious that he would give Kobe a book that he knows he won’t read, and that somehow the exchange is “special” for him.

- SPORTSbyBROOKS says the “Zen Master” Phil Jackson is returning to the Lakers full-time after mulling over the idea of either only coaching home games or retiring.

- DEADSPIN has word that loudmouth Jay Mariotti is going to hop back into the newspaper world (after bashing it to join the blogosphere last year) again by joining the Chicago Tribune after his no-compete clause is up in August.

- SONS OF STEVE GARVEY wrote an ode to Manny Ramirez as he’s set to return to action tonight after serving his 50-game suspension.

- YARDBARKER has this shocker: Apparently Stephon Marbury wants more money.

- TONY BLOGS.NET wants to know if anyone else thinks that PETA will get involved after thousands of bees were killed after a swarm of them managed to engulf PETCO Park during yesterday’s Astros-Padres game.

Bill Plaschke, LA Times: Bryant, the Finals MVP, becomes possibly the most unburdened player in NBA history as he finally wins a title without former teammate and nemesis Shaquille O’Neal, who had earlier won one without Bryant. “I just don’t have to hear that criticism, that idiotic criticism, anymore,” said Bryant, who ended a week of growling intensity by literally gnawing at his fingernails in anticipation of Sunday’s final horn. Sitting with a Moet-soaked T-shirt in the interview room underneath Amway Arena, Bryant shook his head, grinning and chuckling, the taut and tough leader finally admitting that the Shaq rap ripped him. “It was like Chinese water torture . . . it was just annoying . . . I would cringe every time,” he said. “I was just like, it’s a challenge I’m just going to have to accept because there’s no way I’m going to argue it.”

George Diaz, Orlando Sentinel: A flurry of turnovers, missteps and mistakes. The Magic bumbled their way through the evening, turning the Am into a roadhouse version of the Staples Center. It was an embarrassing way to say goodbye to the season. You lose, you lose. But you always play hard. Always. The Magic only did that in spurts Sunday. And that’s how you get blown out by a superior team. The Lakers deserved to be champions. They found ways to close out games in the clutch, unlike the Magic, who lost two of these matchups in overtime.

Michael Ventre, NBC Sports: Next season the Lakers have a team returning that, theoretically, should be favored to repeat. The club has two major free agents in Lamar Odom and Trevor Ariza to try and lock up, but given the history of the Lakers and the fact that both players were vitally important to this championship run, it appears that will occur. It would not be a surprise if general manager Mitch Kupchak snagged another player through free agency or the draft, either. It’s almost impossible for any coach to turn his back on that. The allure of another championship? It’s one thing if a coach is foiled time after time by the agony of the pursuit, has a relationship with the Larry O’Brien Trophy similar to the one Captain Ahab had with Moby Dick, and just decides to pack it in. It’s quite another if someone says to the reigning virtuoso, “How would you like to play Carnegie Hall one more time?”

Chris Sheridan, ESPN: Want to know why Dwight Howard and Jameer Nelson sat there on the Magic bench, blank expressions adorning their faces, after that final buzzer? Why Superman and one of his All-Star sidekicks stuck around as the championship trophy podium was hastily assembled and the Lakers stood victorious atop it? Because that was what Howard wanted, and he wanted Nelson to witness, feel and share every raw, painful emotion that was tearing him apart inside. “He wanted me to sit out there and let it soak in so we could get that feeling — that bad feeling, actually, of how it feels, and not let it happen again,” Nelson said. “We don’t want it to happen again, so we stay out there to let it soak in, get upset a little bit. “A motivational thing, that’s it,” Nelson said.

With the Lakers and Magic duking it out right now on the tube I gotta wonder again about whether or not Phil Jackson might not be the best coach in NBA history. 9 championship rings and more than likely a 10th in the near future are nothing to balk at. Granted he has had pretty much the best teams in NBA history to coach and granted he coached my childhood hero Bulls to legendary status, but I’ve never liked the Lakers (don’t tell anybody in Los Angeles please) so maybe I can try my hand at an objective conclusion here. Maybe I better leave off, this is quite a subject to try and tackle in a post. Here’s what Jay Mariotti at Fanhouse had to say about it:

Some coaches merely dream the dream. Others actually live it, 10 times. We are watching the greatest NBA coach ever, America.

Appreciate him. For tonight might be the last time you see Phil Jackson on a sideline, even if he doesn’t have to do anything but call timeouts.

A quick word to be true (the article Mr. Mariotti has written is quite good and much longer), but to the point. I suppose it’s fun to try and decide who really is the best coach in history. Here’s an idea too though, is success necessary to be great? I agree that they seem to go pretty hand-in-hand, but skill has taken a back seat to luck and tragedy plenty of times before. Who’s to say really? Personally, I thought Larry Brown coming into Detroit and leading that team to a championship over the heavily favored Lakers was some of the best coaching I can remember. On the other hand, I might just have it out for the yellow and purple.

- SPORTSbyBROOKS has the video from Dwyane Wade’s late night appearance where he plays a prank on an unsuspecting fan.

- DEADSPIN has the story of the giant douche bag who tied up his girlfriend’s kids in the garage so he could hit the bar to watch the game.

- HUGGING HAROLD REYNOLDS was name-checked in John Gonzalez’s column about the Raul Ibanez steroid speculation, and the blog chimes in with its take. For Anthony Stalter’s measured take, click here.

- If you’re wondering what happened to Stephen A. Smith, he is doing a podcast on his website and AWFUL ANNOUNCING has it in YouTube form. He is in classic SAS form as he discusses Brett Favre.

- NO GUTS NO GLORY has quotes from Alonzo Mourning where he says that Phil Jackson isn’t really the coach of the 2009 Los Angeles Lakers.

Typically, an NBA team can expect to score one point per possession (or thereabouts) over a course of a game. So when one team outrebounds another on the offensive glass by a margin of 20-9, it’s really 11 extra possessions and 11 extra opportunities to score. That’s why the Nuggets were able to bounce back tonight from a tough loss in Game 3; they dominated the glass by a margin of 58-40, and went on to win 120-101.

The win is even more impressive considering the struggles of Carmelo Anthony, who went 3 of 16 from the field. Chauncey Billups picked up the slack, and had key back-to-back buckets when the Nuggets were nursing a nine-point lead early in the fourth quarter. He drove to the hole and got the “and one,” and then on the Nuggets’ next possession, he brought the ball up and drained a three. Billups was one of seven Nuggets to score in double figures; J.R. Smith deserves mention for his 24 points and four assists off the bench.

Kobe Bryant posted 34 points on 10 of 26 shooting (39%). Pau Gasol added 21 points and 10 boards, and Andrew Bynum had 14 points and five boards, but Phil Jackson isn’t getting much production from the rest of the roster. Two vets that the Lakers are counting on — Lamar Odom and Derek Fisher — combined to shoot 3 of 15 for 10 points.

The series moves back to L.A. for Game 5 and if the Nuggets can avoid the mental errors in crunch time, they have a good shot to win this series. The Lakers are inconsistent and out of synch, and they really need that supporting cast to raise its game.

After their tough, emotional loss in Game 1, conventional wisdom said that the Nuggets would be reeling and wouldn’t be able to put up much of a fight in Game 2. But these aren’t your father’s Nuggets. With the addition of Chauncey Billups and Carmelo Anthony’s transformation after playing in Beijing with Team USA, these Nuggets are tough-minded.

It took a while for Denver to get going. The Lakers came out like gangbusters and had a 13-point lead with 2:40 to play in the second quarter. But the Nuggets went on a 14-2 run over the last 160 seconds to narrow the lead to one at halftime.

The Lakers built a seven-point lead in the middle of the third quarter, but once again, the Nuggets responded and cut the lead to one at the end of the period. In the fourth quarter, it was the Nuggets turn to build a seven-point lead with 9:06 to play. At this point, I was a little perplexed by George Karl’s decision to go with J.R. Smith (1-6, 3 points) instead of Linas Kleiza (5-8, 16 points, 8 rebounds) down the stretch. Smith didn’t play horribly in the final minutes, but he didn’t do anything positive either. The Lakers fought back, and with 1:00 to play and the Nuggets up two, Smith turned the ball over (his third of the night). Karl obviously knows his team far better than I do, but Kleiza simply played much, much better tonight and probably should have been in the game.

There were a couple of missed calls down the stretch. Kobe traveled before he made his three to tie the game at 99-99 and during a jumpball with 0:18 to play, the refs missed Smith slicing through the circle before the ball was touched. That should have been Laker ball out of bounds, but since the refs missed Kobe’s travel, things evened out.

Chauncey Billups made 5 of 6 free throws down the stretch to seal the 106-103 win. Derek Fisher had a shot from the corner to tie the game at the buzzer but he missed the rim.

Carmelo Anthony had another great game, posting 34 points, nine rebounds (five offensive) and four assists. Chauncey Billups had 27 points, while Kleiza and Kenyon Martin chipped in with 16 apiece. Kobe led the Lakers with 32 points, while Trevor Ariza added 20 points (on 6 of 7 shooting) and four steals. Pau Gasol added 17 points and 17 rebounds.

I know that Phil Jackson and Kobe Bryant have a long history with Derek Fisher, but he went just 1 of 9 from the field tonight, and is shooting under 30% in the last two playoff series. It might be time to give Jordan Farmar a few more minutes.

It’s always interesting in the NBA how some coaches and players interact through the media.

Andrew Bynum wasn’t happy about going to the bench midway through the fourth quarter of the Lakers’ loss Tuesday to the Indiana Pacers.

Coach Phil Jackson had a not-too-subtle and perhaps all-too-predictable response before the Lakers faced the Philadelphia 76ers on Wednesday.

“That’s none of his business,” Jackson said. “He just goes out and plays. That’s his job. … He’s a kid, he doesn’t know any better.”

Jackson is always good for a condescending quote or two.

It seems like if a coach had a weekly 15-minute meeting with each player, locker rooms would be much more harmonious.