PAYBACK FOR SMACK? THROWING OUT BARBS IS JACKSON'S STYLE.

Byline: Howard Beck Staff Writer

Phil Jackson could just flash his seven rings and leave it at that. He could remind the world he has Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant, and well, you don't. He could just quietly enjoy a decade's worth of dominance by the teams he's coached.

On balance, there's enough to be smug about to effectively irritate the 28 other NBA cities. But Phil Jackson won't leave it at that. He'll tweak and prod and mock them as he impishly skips from town to town, leaving outraged fans in his wake.

``A needler,'' as New York Knicks coach Jeff Van Gundy once noted.

Jackson enjoys the basketball and the strategy and the X's and O's, and certainly the W's, as much as anyone. But sometimes he creates his own brand of entertainment. The eyes squint, the lips curl toward his ears and Jackson drops the kind of smack talk that sends headline writers scrambling for larger typefaces, and sends fans into conniptions.

Jackson on Orlando: ``A plastic city.''

Jackson on San Antonio: The Spurs' lockout-season championship needs ``an asterisk.''

Jackson on Sacramento: ``redneck, in some form or fashion'' and ``semicivilized.''

And that was just last season, Jackson's first as coach of the Lakers. Now comes the payback.

Tonight the Lakers play at Arco Arena for the first time since they beat the Sacramento Kings in the first round of the playoffs in April. The players know what to expect. And they seem to relish the backlash as much as Jackson does.

``It's kind of funny,'' Kobe Bryant said of Jackson's comments. ``We get a kick out of it because it's funny to see how much the city feeds into it. . . . We know they're gonna be pumped up.''

Whether it's gamesmanship, mischief-making or just good sports theater, the results are always predictable. Especially in the league's more provincial cities, the comments are taken as civic insults.

Last season, the Orlando Sentinel blew up Jackson's ``plastic city'' remarks and stripped them across the sports page the day the Lakers arrived to play the Magic. All it did was give Jackson more fodder.

``That's really pretty low stuff, journalistic-wise, if you ask me,'' he said at the time. ``If that's what they need to do to have the fans respond, that says even more about Orlando than I (did). . . . But anyway, it got them fired up. It's what they need to do down there to get it going.''

So he's going to love the response tonight. The talk shows in the state capital are working overtime. The cover of today's Sacramento Bee sports section is almost solely devoted to Jackson's ``redneck'' remarks, including a column defending the city's honor.

The Arco crowd, which rattled the Lakers with cow bells, electronic chimes and all manner of insults and epithets last spring, is sure to respond.

``It's developed into really a lot of fun for us here,'' Jackson said with a smile Wednesday.

He stood by the redneck remark - ``well, those cowbells behind the bench, I don't know how else you can interpret them'' - and began to compliment the Kings fans' intensity . . . but couldn't resist another jab along the way.

``It's a great home crowd. I mean that's their team, their one game in town,'' he said. ``Besides, what else do they play? Pick the fruits and vegetables?''

Ouch.

Sometimes, even Jackson's own players don't get the act.

``I don't pay it any attention,'' Robert Horry said. ``That's a weird cat.''

If Jackson's comments strike a nerve, they also are often on the mark. Orlando, home to theme parks and master-planned neighborhoods, does have a certain synthetic aspect (though no more so than, say, Beverly Hills). And Sacramento does retain some of its, er, agricultural heritage.

Not that Jackson is concerned with history, just hysteria. His Sacramento commentary came after two nights of watching the Kings burn Lakers jerseys, with rabid Kings fans screaming insults from seats about three feet behind the bench. The Lakers' public-relations director even got hit in the head by a stray cow bell.

Rick Fox says the joke is on those who take Jackson too seriously.

``I think if they really looked through it, they'd see it is put out there to generate that kind of response and they fall into it,'' Fox said. ``It's good for the game, it heightens the matchup. . . .

``Sacramento feels obviously in some sense disrespected as a city. Their team is a quality basketball team and they'll come out to try to represent their team correctly.''

Spurs guard Steve Kerr, a former Chicago Bull who remains close to Jackson, said the coach knows exactly what he's doing - and that the insults and jests usually are directed at the teams that pose the greatest threat.

``I don't hear Phil or Shaq making any comments about the Clippers,'' Kerr said. ``I think those things are calculated.''

Clearly, Jackson is enjoying himself, regardless of what anyone else thinks. And though he's occasionally gone too far - Jackson once referred to the Mormon religion as ``a cult'' while defending Dennis Rodman's insult of the religion - the barbs are usually light-hearted.

``I think it's to bring honesty and truth to enlighten the situation,'' Jackson said wryly.

But how much does he mean? And how much is just idle tweaking? ``It's about 50-50,'' he said.

And maybe, winning seven championships simply isn't enough for the NBA's premier coach.

``He's entitled to find his own ways to entertain himself,'' Fox said. ``Winning championship after championship, I would hate to think it'd get boring, but I'm sure in that case it's a challenge for him and gives him something to do off the court.''

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Photo: (color) Lakers coach Phil Jackson