Durant: Comments were 'disrespectful'

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The posturing has begun between the Lakers and the Thunder.

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.

But Durant, who didn't get a key foul call at the end of a 140-139 overtime loss to the Jazz last week, wasn't happy with Jackson suggesting he's a pampered superstar.

"Because it's taking away from what I do," Durant said, according to The Oklahoman. "That's a part of my game, getting to the free-throw line and being aggressive. If you say that I get superstar calls or I get babied by the refs, that's just taking away from how I play. That's disrespectful to me.

"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."

Jackson might be setting the stage to get a few calls to go his way, but Durant doesn't believe it will work.

"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.

"They're smarter than that, and they have more skills than that as refs. So I don't really worry about it too much," he added, according to the report.

Jackson isn't the first to publicly wonder why Durant gets as many free throw attempts as he does. Celtics forward Kevin Garnett said after a 109-104 loss on March 31 to the Thunder, in which a few crucial calls went Durant's way, that playing Durant was like going up against "Michael [expletive] Jordan."

"Ever since KG said something, everybody's been questioning how I get to the line," Durant said, according to the report. "If you watch our games, you wouldn't question it. The NBA should put us on national TV more, I guess."

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Los Angeles Lakers coach Phil Jackson's pockets may be a lot lighter after the league fined him $70,000 in the last two weeks for comments related to the NBA's officiating, but Jackson took a light-hearted approach when talking about the fines Friday at practice.

"You can't do that anymore in the NBA," Jackson said. "They don't allow you to do that. I guess it was last year, I wasn't aware that the rules have changed, but they tell me that last year they stopped letting coaches spin. You have to be very honest and straightforward and never have any spin with what you say.

"I think we can get to be robotic like that. You guys would probably enjoy us just having stock answers to give to you, 'Everybody played and they played hard.' Things like that."

Jackson's most recent $35,000 fee came as a result of his statement about Oklahoma City's Kevin Durant, saying that the "referees are treating [Durant] like a superstar."

Before the Lakers' game against Sacramento on Tuesday, Jackson was asked about Durant, who led the league in scoring and free-throw attempts per game in only his third season in the league.

"As far as the calls that he gets on the floor, I think a lot of the referees are treating him like a superstar; he gets to the line easy and often," Jackson said. "He's got the ability to create fouls. That's a big part of scoring, to get to the foul line."

Durant, informed of Jackson's comments Wednesday, said he felt "disrespected."

"Because it's taking away from what I do," Durant told the Oklahoman. "That's part of my game, getting to the free-throw line and being aggressive. If you say that I get superstar calls or I get babied by the refs, that's just taking away from how I play. That's disrespectful to me."

On Friday, Jackson said he had not heard Durant's response but was unaware what could have prompted Durant to have a negative reaction because Jackson "was just straightforward and honest about the game."

"I really didn't know what he was upset about," Jackson said. "It really wasn't that upsetting. He shot the most free throws in the league; he made the most free throws in the league. He shot the most shots in the league; he made the most shots in the league. I voted for him on the All-Star team; he made the All-Star team. We know he's a great player, congratulations."

When Durant's comments were paraphrased to Jackson, explaining how Durant was upset about the insinuation of receiving favorable calls based on superstar status rather than based on merit, Jackson said, "Good. I mean, whatever."

Jackson was fined earlier in the month for comments after a game against San Antonio. He said the "referees turned against us" after technical fouls were drawn by Ron Artest and Kobe Bryant. He also called out veteran official Bennett Salvatore by name and said, "With Bennett you don't know what you're going to get."

Jackson, who was paid $12 million to coach the Lakers this season, was asked if the fines could be a tax write-off at the end of his media session Friday.

"Certainly," Jackson quipped. "That's a gift to the NBA charities.

"NBA Cares, they really care a lot about me. ... I got to get out of here before I start something else."

Lakers forward Pau Gasol was not aware of his coach's comments, or the ensuing fine.

"35 g's, huh?" Gasol said. "Nice. Big money."

Gasol, a teammate of Durant's on the Western Conference All-Star team in Dallas, also discussed Oklahoma City's star.

"Durant, he's been playing really well," Gasol said. "He gets a lot of credit for what he's doing and the referees treat him already like a superstar in, what is it, his third year in the league? But he's playing hard. I don't know if he gets extra calls or not. We're going to try to limit his touches and limit his free throws.

"We're not trying to play mind games here, we're just trying to play harder and play better and be the better team."

Dave McMenamin covers the Lakers for ESPNLosAngeles.com.