For someone who universally regarded as one of the best head coaches in NBA history, current Los Angeles leader Phil Jackson is becoming a side attraction.

For two of the Lakers’ past three series, Jackson has gone on the offensive by attacking the opposing teams’ superstars and their credibility with the officials. 

First, it was budding star and league scoring champ Kevin Durant.  Prior the his team’s first-round tilt with the Oklahoma City Thunder, Jackson offered this rant about the officials’ penchant for putting Durant at the charity stripe:

Now with L.A.’s series with Phoenix beginning tonight, Jackson tried to draw the refs attention to something and play mind games with Suns’ point guard Steve Nash – speaking on Nash carrying the basketball:

“Yeah, because you can’t carry the ball like he does in practice.  You can’t pick that ball up and run with it.”

But Nash – never one to back away from a soundbite – added a subtle jab back at Jackson:

“It’s news to me. I’m fortunate. I don’t know if I’ve been called for a carry yet. I’ve never heard anyone accuse me of carrying it. I mean, the best coach in the league Gregg Popovich (of San Antonio) didn’t have a problem with it last week.”

“We have the best officials in the world. I’ll just leave it up to them.”

Did you catch that?  Gregg Popovich…the best coach in the league?

What can be clearly noted in PJ’s trend for making comments?  Well, his wrath is seemingly directed at players who have the potential of taking over ball games.  While OKC’s Durant and Phoenix’s Nash certainly fit that bill, there was no discernible player who could be given that description on Utah’s roster.  Deron Williams is definitely talented, but one thing he doesn’t have is the ability to lift his entire team in the same manner that Nash does.

So, there’s a method behind his madness.  Will it make a difference in the refs’ treatment of Nash?

Probably not.  What Jackson is trying to do is get Nash to think about his execution, rather than him just playing on his All-Star instinct.

But Nash, like Durant before him, is too strong mentally to be affected by such trickery.  And this kind of comment just comes across as a desperate attempt to gain an advantage that – if he has his troops on their game – he shouldn’t even need.