Phil Jackson complaining about officiating during an NBA playoff series is about as predictable as the sun rising in the east and setting in the west.

The inevitable happened after the Lakers lost, 103-94, in Game 2 of the 2010 NBA Finals and the series now tied 1-1.

During his regular postgame news conference, Jackson was asked what he thought of the officiating in Game 2 and he wasted little time in planting the seed for the rest of the series. Jackson began with, “It’s gonna be that way from game to game, and I think a lot of it is about who comes out aggressively and does the right thing out there at the very start of the ballgame.”

That was certainly a diplomatic commentary from Jackson, but he sharpened his stance later on.

Jackson had three major issues: 1) how Ray Allen frees himself for his 3-pointers, 2) why Doc Rivers was allowed on the court to call timeout, and 3) the questionable foul calls on Kobe Bryant.

When the Lakers coach was asked what he thought of some of the foul calls on his star player, who picked up his fifth foul early in the fourth quarter, he said: “I wasn’t happy with the foul calls. Those were unusual calls. It really changed the complexity of this ballgame.”

I guess Jackson wasn’t satisfied with the 41 foul shots his team attempted in Game 2 compared to Boston’s 26.

One thing that definitely didn’t sit well with Jackson was the way Allen torched the Lakers with eight 3-point shots in Game 2, an NBA Finals record. But it wasn’t the end result that burned Jackson, it was the initial process that irked him. Jackson believes it will be difficult to stay with the Celtics’ shooting guard when he’s allowed to move freely around the screens.

“When they take away any bumps when Fish is trying to make him divert his path and they don’t allow him to do that and they call fouls on Fish, that really gives him an opportunity to take what ever route he wants to take off on the pickers. That makes it very difficult,” Jackson explained.

“We just have to adjust to the ballgames on what the referees would call,” Jackson continued. “Are they going to allow us to take direct line cuts away from him so he has to divert his route or let him run through Fish and get a foul called on Fisher? Then it makes a totally different type of ballgame. Then Fish has to give him the route he wants to run in and he’s gotta play from behind all the time. That’s the adjustment we’ll make in this series. But he had a great game.”

Then, Jackson turned his attention to Rivers’ timely timeout late in the fourth quarter that allowed the Celtics to avoid an eight-second backcourt violation. “I don’t know if you can do that or not. I don’t think that’s legal,” the Lakers coach pointed out. “Coaches have to stay on the sideline, they’re not supposed to stay on the floor. It looked like he was shot out of a starter’s block.”

It looks like the Zen Master has fired the first meaningful shot at the referees in the 2010 Finals.

Kobe Bryant and Phil Jackson were not happy with the way Game 4 was officiated. (NBAE/GETTY IMAGES)

The inconsistent officiating in the NBA playoffs is becoming predictable. In Game 3, the Los Angeles Lakers were awarded 45 free throws and won 103-97. In Game 4, the Denver Nuggets were awarded 49 free throws and won 120-101. It is coincidence? Neither coach doesn’t believe it is.

Nuggets Coach George Karl reasoned his players “could not get a feel for the whistle” during the loss in Game 3. After his Lakers lost in Game 4, it was Phil Jackson’s turn to take the mic to voice his displeasure. He was quick to point out the 49-35 free-throw disparity and the 31-24 personal foul differential, both in favor of the Nuggets. The Lakers starting frontcourt of Andrew Bynum (5), Pau Gasol (4) and Trevor Ariza (5) combined for 14 personal fouls. Add Lamar Odom’s (5) and Luke Walton’s (6) fouls to the mix and it’s a 25-12 disadvantage for the Lakers’ big men.

The usually cool and calm Zen Master took out his frustration on Los Angeles Times columnist T.J. Simers. When Simers brought up the subject of the Lakers not competing all the time, Jackson paused and replied: “I’ll explain it to you in deep terms, okay.

“Basketball is a game where the aggressor gets the advantage. And tonight, we didn’t know what a foul was and what wasn’t a foul,” Jackson explained. “The start of the ballgame, we got guys knocked around going to the basket and they said we’re gonna let these things go. And by the end of the ballgame, little fouls were being called all over the place. Forty-nine foul shots in a sequence of a game like that. That’s not how we wanted to play and that’s not what we wanted to do in a game.”

When Simers tried to interrupt Jackson, the Lakers coach told Simers, “Just be quiet while you’re standing there. You asked me a question and I’ll give you the answer, alright.”

Jackson continued, “So, as the momentum changes in a ballgame like that, you’re always on your heels because guys are now in foul trouble. Then you’re not the aggressor anymore. Then you’re the guy that’s defensively playing the game. And that’s what I don’t like.”

The thorough analysis from Jackson is sure sign that the Lakers coach is clearly irritated by what he witnessed in Game 4. And he’s also clearly irritated with Simers, who followed up his initial question by asking Jackson, “So, are you saying it’s the referees and not your team’s inability to compete all the time?” To which Jackson responded by saying, “No. I don’t think I said that. I think you’re trying to put words in my mouth and I’m not gonna let you do that.”

In defense of Simers, Jackson was clearly criticizing the refs and placed much of the blame on the officials without calling them out by name. The Zen Master will surely get a call from Stu Jackson and could be hit with a costly fine, which is fine by Jackson. He basically used the post-game news conference as a platform to make his argument.

Jackson pointed out a sequence of events late in the fourth quarter that helped the Nuggets pull away from the Lakers. He said Walton went across the lane and got hit in the throat by Nene, and no foul was called. When Walton complained to the officials, he was whistled for three fouls in a row that awarded Carmelo Anthony six consecutive free throws.

“The referee gave him (Walton) a technical and subsequently gave him three consecutive fouls,” Jackson said. “That kind of disparity we don’t like in ballgames. That’s not equal refereeing, and those are the things that changes the course of games and we don’t like that. We want the game fair and evenly played.”

One unfair play that was completely missed by the referees was the obvious tripping foul on Nuggets forward Dahntay Jones that got Kobe Bryant steaming. When Bryant was asked about it, he sarcastically said, “I fell on my face for no reason. I’m a klutz.”

Jackson called Jones’ alleged dirty play “unacceptable defense” and “unsportsmanlike basketball.” He also said it’s not the first time Jones had done such a thing during the series.

But the noncalls was just part of the Lakers’ woes in Game 4. After spending an enormous amount of energy in winning the previous game, the Lakers appeared to be tired on Monday and the numbers supported that as the Nuggets outrebounded them, 58-40, a clear indication the visiting team was suffering from fatigue.

“We just didn’t get to the ball. Their offensive rebounding disparity was quite obvious. A lot of it was breakdowns so there’s some action to create situations where our bigs needed to help, so they’re weren’t ready (to rebound),” Jackson said on how the Nuggets collected 20 offensive rebounds to the Lakers’ 9.

Bryant had a more unsubtle response to the Lakers’ rebounding woes. “They just kicked our ass,” Bryant said. “They whupped us.”