Rick Scuteri / Reuters

Phil Jackson has had to massage egos and playing time with the Lakers this season.

Jackson has not been able to perform miracles during his second hitch with the Lakers, in the post-Shaq era. But they have been competitive for most of that time, save for the period from the 2007 All-Star break until this weekend. If he can get the Lakers to take a game from the Suns, it’ll be a glowing addition to his resume.

It says something about Jackson’s ability to handle the media that the public has, for the most part, blamed everybody but him for the woes of this year’s team. If he were more caustic, if he became irate over a question, if he bristled when second-guessed — like Red would have done if he were coaching in today’s cauldron — he might not escape scrutiny.

In truth, this year’s Lakers’ team should have been coached by the late Jerry Garcia, because what a long, strange trip it’s been. Key players have missed significant periods of time with injuries, including Lamar Odom, Kwame Brown, Luke Walton and Vladimir Radmanovic.

Brown had an off-court incident in which he threw a birthday cake at a man. Radmanovic injured himself while snowboarding, then initially lied about it before coming clean. Smush Parker has been scolded and benched for lackluster play, then complained to the media about it. Brian Cook and Andrew Bynum each had incidents in which they snapped at Jackson as they came to the bench.

How long do you think Red would have lasted if Cook had dropped his warm-ups in his lap, as Cook did to Jackson during a game? How patient do you think Red would have been with Bynum if he snapped at the coach during a timeout, as Bynum did to Jackson this year?

Yet here they are, inexplicably, in the playoffs. And Jackson is in the Hall of Fame, with Red. The best of times, the worst of times.

After the 2007 NBA playoffs are over, Jackson and Auerbach will still be tied at nine championships apiece as head coaches. But Jackson gets a slight edge over the Boston legend, for degree of difficulty.

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