Forget It, Spurs: It’s Jack’s Town

He has overseen a lot of championships, and he deserves all the money and acclaim he has gotten.

Phil Jackson?

Jack Nicholson.

And when he came out of his seat Friday night, sunglasses on, acting out another scene from “Anger Management,” if not “The Shining,” Nicholson fit both the energy and the urgency of this Hollywood night.

Pick a movie.

For the Lakers, it’s “As Good As It Gets.”

Jackson has spent this past week trying to sell the NBA on the injustice being committed against his superstars, but no one has been listening. His adjustment after every game of this series has been to complain about the officiating.

Does Jackson in any way influence how they see things?

“We laugh at him,” said one who works with the officials.

But Jackson wasn’t alone this night. In the middle of the second quarter, Shaquille O’Neal picked up his third foul and went to the bench, with the Spurs behind by seven but coming on.

Enter Nicholson, stage right.

He has always been center stage here, but an “Easy Rider” sitting courtside between the benches.

Then came Friday. A typically quiet L.A. crowd started the game as if this series wasn’t 0-2. Phoenix, in contrast, was twice as loud.

But Shaq’s third foul followed, and Nicholson rose out of his seat. Given one take, it appeared he was saying, “You can’t handle the truth!”

Nicholson kept barking a few things that weren’t “Terms of Endearment.” Steve Javie, one of the refs, has a quick trigger. He has tossed David Robinson before, as well as a mascot. Javie told Nicholson that if he came on the court again, they would toss him.

That would have been a scene. If L.A. burned a police car here after a title, they might have burned the place down if they had escorted Nicholson out.

Nicholson seemed to sense as much. “They can’t throw me outta here,” he told a reporter. “I’ll sue.”

What followed is as crazy as anything in “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.” Without Shaq, the Lakers went on an 11-4 run to end the half.

“The Last Detail?”

Bryant had shot three free throws before Nicholson, and one of those was a technical foul. After Nicholson, Bryant shot 16, and the Spurs turned into “Five Easy Pieces.”

Bruce Bowen went over and said a few things to Nicholson himself, but he was no match. Later, Bowen acted as if Nicholson had taken him one-on-one. “There should be something said,” Bowen said, “when Jack Nicholson talks to an official like he’s his child.”

Shaq has always said the NBA stands for Nothing But Actors. But this was a movie in itself. Asked afterward about it, Jackson smiled. “Jack got an Oscar from me for that one,” he said.

It could only happen here. Not far from “Chinatown.”

Buck Harvey can be reached at bharvey@express-news.net.