This brings me to my latest contribution to Taking Back Sports — the first for the new, reformatted website. Poor officiating has long haunted all sports, but in Game 2 of the NBA Finals last night, it reached a point where even the mildest of fans (myself not included) had to quote one of the greatest figures in sports history, John McEnroe, and ask: “You can’t be serious!”

Look at how happy I was to be at the game. It pretty much went downhill from here.

I am not a slave for ESPN (something I’m quite proud of), so I will not recap the game for you. As required by my conscious and unwritten rules of ethical sports reporting, I will give full disclosure by saying that I am a Lakers fan. I was at the game, so I feel I had a pretty good view of everything that happened for all 48 minutes. My boss has already given me his blessing to compose this article at work since he is also a Lakers fan and watched the game.

Let me get this out of the way. Despite me being already sick of the “He Got Game” references, I must admit that Ray Allen was fantastic for the Celtics after being sidelined with foul trouble all of Game 1.

Moving on …

How good was Rajon Rondo in the fourth quarter? Could he had been that effective if Kobe Bryant, who had been defending him the entire game, picked up his fifth foul for simply getting too close to him going after a rebound and never making contact with him. Probably not. Last time I checked, the “two yard halo rule” was only used by the NFL when players fielded punts. I had no idea this rule gravitated towards basketball. There is much more to be said about specific lapses in officiating, and those of you who watched the game know that, so I won’t summarize.

(Interesting in-game notes though from my mental storage: Boston had four big men with four fouls before the start of the fourth quarter, Kobe and Ron Artest had four fouls before the fourth quarter, and Lamar Odom had three fouls with four minutes remaining in the first quarter! Simply put, the box score was a bloodbath. Heck, Boston would have had just as much of a gripe as the Lakers do if they lost.)

Allow me to provide what the refs are saying here. "Okay, boys, how can we screw the Lakers out of a Game 2 win?"

As my loyal follows know, nothing infuriates me more as a sports fan than poor officiating (having been one myself). Preventing players from deciding a game, especially at the championship level is inexcusable. Boston built a fourteen point lead in the first half and the Lakers slowly chipped away as Kevin Garnett and Kendrick Perkins were hampered with foul trouble. By the start of the fourth quarter, the game was tied and the third quarter was played tighter than the lid of Snookie’s pickle jar. (The girl likes pickles, folks. What can I say?). With nine minutes and change left, Kobe was charged with the phantom foul discussed earlier. Shortly after, Garnett picked up his fifth foul. Much of the final quarter of Game 2 was played with star players taken out of their game.

For those who saw the game, the Lakers clearly took the majority of the poor officiating. Kobe was shafted, and props to him and the entire Lakers coaching staff for not getting charged with a single technical foul. The one person on the floor who came closest to getting one, Jack Nicholson, really incensed an already pissed off Laker crowd that was relatively mild by sports standards. If someone paying thousands of dollars for courtside seats is risking ejection, you know something is wrong with the officiating.

The NBA has had its issues with officiating the past ten years. Everyone remembers the Tim Donaghe scandal. Remember Game 6 of the ‘02 Western Conference Finals? I remember, and now I see why the Sacramento Kings had beef. Everyone remembers the special treatment Dwayne Wade got from the officials during the Heat’s Championship run in 2006, and even ESPN was not shy about letting viewers know that.

This sounds very conspiracy-theory-ish, but David Stern has always been a very intelligent commissioner of the NBA. He knows what’s good for business. That’s all I will say about that because I don’t want to formally suggest the NBA is fixing games. What I will suggest is the NBA, like any league, prefers certain outcomes and/or lengths of playoff series. Boston played very good Sunday night, but as a sports fan, I’m not convinced Boston wins that game if all things are equal. Rondo would not have had the impact he did if Kobe was allowed to play basketball, and on the flip side, Bynum and Gasol would not have combined for 46 points and a heck of a lot of blocked shots if Garnett and Perkins were allowed to play basketball.

My time to watch and read post-game coverage was limited because I was at the game and then had to drive two hours home from the game and then go to sleep, but I did have a little time Sunday night and Monday morning. Like most people, I depend on ESPN for most sports coverage, because there are simply limited options at this time until Taking Back Sports becomes a goliath. I didn’t see one mention of the officiating in any article or TV report from ESPN! That is because ESPN is ESPN, and ESPN does not want to enrage the NBA and lose media privileges. Fair enough, but that just makes ESPN more like any other news source and less about highlights of good sports and “real” analysis.

Sadly, there are only two people who I can count on at ESPN to give their true observations and objective analysis: Bob Knight and Bill Simmons. Bob Knight sadly only covers college hoops, and Simmons is a Celtic, and my attempts to reach out to him via Twitter to get his thoughts on the officiating went unrequited. Shocker!

I know Phil Jackson is chomping at the bit to talk about the refs in Game 2 in his press conferences, but he will likely stand down after receiving a $25,000 fine for talking about the special treatment Kevin Durant now gets from the officials. I think Jackson could care less about the fine he would receive (over/under is $49,500). What he probably fears more is suspension … And rightfully so. If my conversations with Lakers fans during and after the game are any indication, there’s a whole bevy of fans willing to have the bill taken out of their paychecks to speak out over a great wrong they feel was done.

“Are we embarrassed? No. We’re not embarrassed”- Phil Jackson after the Lakers’ Game 4 loss to the Rockets that evened the series at two games a piece.

“There’s nothing to worry about…”- Phil Jackson after the Lakers’ Game 6 loss to the Rockets to even the series at three games a piece.

Allow me to paraphrase the great John McEnroe, “You can’t be serious, Phil!”

Phil Jackson is a tough one to argue with when it comes to basketball. He has nine NBA Championship rings and has coached two of the best players to ever step on the hardwood in Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant. And he is the Zen Master, after all. But showing absolutely no regard for the reality that if the Lakers lose another game before they win one, Jackson’s quest for a 10th ring is over for this season? That’s definitely something out of the Zen world.

Now of course all possibilities must be considered by any rational sports fan. Maybe Jackson is just putting on a show for the media and he’s a lot more emotional and nervous in the locker room? Maybe Jackson really is not worried about Game 7, as it is at the Staples Center and he expects his team to put out an effort much more like Game 5? It’s a possibility, given Jackson was proven right after Game 4.

Or just maybe it’s a combination of both?

And then there’s the Jack “Bauer” of All Sports theory – which I’ll admit is a bit of a reach, but heck, so was my victory amongst the Taking Back Sports writers in the NFL Draft Challenge despite only offering picks for the first two-thirds of the first round.

Here’s what I think is brewing behind the scenes … I think Phil Jackson wants to retire after this season having captured his 10th NBA title. Sound crazy? Hear me out.

First, Jackson is closing in on 64 years of age, so he is approaching that time in his career where he probably is starting to think about retirement — if he hasn’t already, given the turmoil during the divorce of Shaq and Kobe. Second, winning a 10th title will move him out of a tie with the great Red Auerbach for most NBA championships as a head coach.

The timing is certainly prime for Jackson to walk off into the sunset if the Lakers are the last team standing at the end of this postseason. Logic suggests Jackson should be concerned more than ever about missing out on this opportunity, yet he remains relaxed, at least in front of the media.

(The reality is that this is probably the Lakers’ last chance to win a title for a really long time. Kobe isn’t getting any younger. Derek Fisher has lost several steps and is on his last breaths as an NBA player after a brilliant 13-year career, during which he was the force of stability and consistency on the Lakers’ championship teams. The Nuggets are a young and talented team that already is playing better than the Lakers right now. And LeBron James is simply a beast and still getting better. He will win multiple titles.)

The biggest factor in the relaxed attitude is that Phil Jackson trusts his team will get the job done, which is always a positive for a head coach. Heck, Jackson has a lot of talent to work with, and he is a seasoned coach who has experienced about everything a basketball coach can. Thus, he is more relaxed and functional under pressure than other coaches, such as Stan Van Gundy, who has done a brilliant job of proving Shaq’s claim that he is a “Master of Panic.”

However, I think there are some other factors at play inside the mind of the Zen Master. Jackson’s manner suggests, at least to me, “‘Jack the Sportsfan,” that Jackson simply believes it, as in a championship this season, will happen because it should and it makes sense given what I’ve outlined.

Jackson is the Zen Master, after all. Yes, I know I’ve said that already, but it’s a very important point to my case, just like The Dude had to keep reminding Walter that “they’re gonna kill that poor woman.” (The Big Lebowski is a must-see movie if you are lost on this reference.) Perhaps he has tapped into his inner Zen and has mystical forces working on the side of the Lakers to make sure they win the title this year.

Yes, I know this seems like a reach and very much lacking in actual facts. But it makes sense, at least to me, and I hope it does to you, even if you disagree.

I can’t see any other logical explanation for it. It is almost like Jackson knows something we don’t. He seems like the most relaxed person in the Lakers Nation right now heading into Game 7 against a team that has caused the Lakers fits on both sides of the ball and shown much more desire to win the series. Not to mention what I believe to be a breakdown in coaching by Phil Jackson in Game 6 by not capitalizing on the Lakers’ superior size (like he did in Game 5), and by apparently not motivating his players to put forth any effort whatsoever.

But the Zen Master must know, or believe he knows, something we don’t and that the Lakers will accomplish the ultimate goal for this season. As a Lakers fan, I hope this is the case, and will be interested to see if Jackson calls it quits if they win it all this year. If he does, Jack gave it to you first.

For the record, if the Lakers don’t win this year, I don’t expect to see Jackson walk away this season. He has too much pride to leave the game, having come so close in consecutive seasons. He’d certainly stick around to try and see Andrew Bynum play a full season healthy with Kobe, Lamar Odom, and Pau Gasol, along with a young bench another year older.