Hopefully, Heath Ledger will now continue to attend games

November 14, 2007 | 6:01 pm

And Jake Gyllenhaal. And Ang Lee. And anybody else associated with "Brokeback Mountain." Or just those who may have been offended by Phil Jackson's postgame description of the Lakers-Spurs contest (which was deemed unprintable for this here blog, for anyone wondering why it didn't get immediately relayed). The league certainly didn't like it and let the coach know of their displeasure. As Phil told ESPN in a pregame interview, he understands why they weren't amused. "I wanted to thank all the journalists and TV people who thought it was humorous last night in the moment for their support and laughing. But in retrospect, it wasn't really funny. When you take it out of context, it's not funny. It's a poor attempt at humor and I deserve to be reprimanded by the NBA. And I said to them, if I offended any horses, Texans, cowboys or gays, I apologize."

Anybody he forget anybody with that laundry list? "Children," shrugged Jackson.

Was Phil surprised at the reaction? Not really. "It's societal right now. We have to understand that as coaches and people that speak in public that some people can do it, some people can't. Coaches can't do it. Jay Leno and David Letterman. That's something that is appropriate for certain categories."

But with that likely out of the way, Phil can turn his attention to tonight's game and the Rockets, who've already notched a win against them. Asked if the biggest challenge was stopping Yao Ming, Jackson deadpanned, "McGrady's pretty good in his own right." But all kidding aside, PJ knows those two are gonna get theirs and that might be just dandy, assuming it's not a 12-strong thing. "Our philosophy, without divulging anything, is that if you give them 60 points and shut the other players down relatively well, you still have a chance to win the ballgame. We still have to get to 90 points, basically. Their defense is good. They're taught well and they're coached well defensively. It's the other guys that beat us in the last game we played against them."

In an interesting little coincidence (or, for the skeptical folks who think stuff like this is always planned to entertain the fans and goose the games, an utterly and wholly non-coincidence), ex-Rockets coach Jeff Van Gundy is calling tonight's game, his first involving Houston since vacating his coaching spot. And in an added wrinkle, the Rockets just happened to be playing the Lakers tonight. Who just happen to be coached by Phil Jackson. Who just happened to be given the sarcastic nickname "Big Chief Triangle" by a less than flattering Van Gundy.

Again, an amazing coincidence!

But according to Jackson, there just happens to be no bad blood between the two. "Jeff, I think, stood up for Pat a lot when he was in New York. We really haven't had battles, at least from my standpoint, since the mid-nineties, when Jeff backed up Pat's "New York Knick-Chicago Bull" and ended up taking over that ball club. And he showed his ability as a coach in the NBA."

Tonight's active list: Same as last night's. The Critter, CK11 and Sasha will be watching in their street digs. But the starting five will get a tweak. Starting at the center spot... Jordan Farmar, in an effort to go very small and run Yao into the ground! You're a genius, Jackson! A genius!

Just kidding. Kwame's getting the nod.

-AK