Associated Press

NEW YORK — The Los Angeles Lakers and Phil Jackson were fined $50,000 apiece by the NBA on Thursday after the coach said the league was conducting a “witch hunt” against Kobe Bryant.

Bryant has recently received two one-game suspensions this season for striking players in the face after taking a shot. The league retroactively assessed Bryant with a flagrant foul for an elbow to Philadelphia’s Kyle Korver last week, a play that didn’t even draw a foul when it happened.

NBA executive vice president Stu Jackson said the fine was for Jackson’s “public criticisms of the NBA.”

Bryant, speaking in Denver before the fine was levied, said he appreciated Jackson standing up for him.

“He was defending his player,” Bryant said at a shootaround before a game against the Nuggets.

Jackson was upset with the NBA’s actions.

“It shouldn’t even have been a flagrant 1,” Jackson said Tuesday. “That’s crazy. That’s a vendetta. They have a witch hunt going on. It’s nuts. Guys riding somebody. Everybody does that in this league. It’s just becoming a witch hunt now.”

Bryant said the suspensions won’t change his shooting style. He’s second in the league in scoring behind Denver’s Carmelo Anthony.

“You have to be careful about how you play the game,” he said. “Go out there and play hard and do the best you can. Hopefully you don’t get suspended or anything like that.”

Asked if the league was overreacting, Bryant said: “I don’t really want to get into it too much. You can’t say anything about it without saying something inflammatory. I’d rather leave it alone and focus on the game.”

Jackson had been fined $25,000 in November for critical remarks. He said Wednesday he wasn’t afraid of his comments leading to another fine.

Jackson didn’t speak to the media after the shootaround in Denver.

Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press

I was kind of rooting for Phoenix to win this game… The show Nash put on in the last two minutes of regulation deserved the ‘W’, now it can be a ‘Classic’ performance. But….

Tonights game was a sham, it was fun to watch, a nail-biter, but a sham.

Dallas got robbed by the refs. Jason Terry got the worst charging call I’ve seen in a long time called in the 2 OT (Nash’s feet weren’t even down, how were they planted? Yes, I DVR’d it… TIVO/DVR’s have got to be the NBA Officials worst nightmare)

Michael Smith calls Nowitzki for a technical after he completely misses the previous foul. (Side note to NBA: Want players to stop complaining, get better officiating)

The two best records in the NBA. The first time since 1972 that two times with records over .771 met this late in the season.

This is the matchup the NBA has to sell.

Even Las Vegas had to be on the edge of its seats. Look at the refs records:

Refs records with Home Team Favored by 4.5pts or less (Dallas was -4): 15-15
Refs records on the Over Under with the over being 205+ (Over was 208): 16-16

Real winner there is the bookies… say casino owners… like the Maloof’s owners of the Sac Kings?

Based on the refs records… nobody had the edge. Based on the performance… that was something else. They clearly wanted the close game, perhaps even the Suns victory.

By MIKE CRANSTON, AP Sports Writer
Wed Mar 14, 7:36 PM ET

CHARLOTTE, N.C. - Charlotte Bobcats guard Brevin Knight accused a referee on Wednesday of bumping him in a game on Saturday and plans to appeal a $25,000 fine he received in connection with the incident.

Knight was fined for what the league called “verbal abuse of a game official and for failing to leave the court in a timely manner” at the end of Saturday’s game against Memphis.

But Knight, who received a technical foul from referee Joe DeRosa early in the fourth quarter, said he was bumped by DeRosa.

“He made his trek from the other side of the court while I was beside the bench. He made contact and then he said to me, ‘Oh, you’re going to bump me,’” Knight said. “I said, ‘You bumped into me.’ So he gave me the tech.”

Knight said he told DeRosa after the game that he strongly disagreed with the call.

“For him to initiate some type of contact and then call a tech on me was wrong. Then I left the court,” Knight said.

NBA spokesman Tim Frank disputed the claim.

“That is not how we viewed the situation,” Frank said.

Knight said his agent has contacted the players’ association and they plan to send a videotape of the incident to the league.

“We’ll definitely appeal that, especially with the extent of the fine was so much you would have thought I went on a tirade on this man and cursed him out,” Knight said. “It didn’t happen. For an incident that he initiated.”

Bobcats coach Bernie Bickerstaff said Knight may have a case.

“I talked to Brevin and obviously he says it’s not warranted,” Bickerstaff said. “It’s something that Brevin has to look into.”

It’s the second time Knight has been fined this season. Knight was fined $10,000 in November for failing to leave the court in a timely manner after being ejected for picking up two technical fouls in a game against Seattle.

Knight missed Wednesday’s game against Sacramento with pain in his groin and abdomen.

Sometimes it’s just not right to give a guy a ‘T’, especially after he catches a knee.

In a 77% black NBA Kobe’s fists and elbows have a tendency to find the other 23%.

some of the more recent ones:

Kyle Korver
Marko Jaric
Manu Ginobili

Who can forget the flagrant, pathetic, elbow to Mike Miller (Classic)

As white players are learning to duck Kobe’s swing after the shot, his white teammates are learning to reserve the seats next to him for his african american teammates (What would Rosa Parks think?). Right Sasha?

Kobe was assessed a flagrant 1 foul retroactively after he elbowed Korver in the Lakers loss to Philly.

This is Bryant’s first ‘charged’ flagrant foul of the season. Anyone think maybe others should have been charged??

Okay, so a lot of what we post on here is satirical and meant to be a joke. This is not a joke. The Knicks have given Isiah Thomas a contract extension.

Suggested reading Mr. Dolan, ‘Good to Great’ by Jim Collins. Actually page one, the first line sums it up: ‘good is the enemy of great’. The Knick, with the highest payroll in the NBA, won’t be great. Mr. Dolan is comparing his team with a below .500 record with the other pitiful teams in the Eastern Conference. Yes, the team has gone from non-playoffs last year to the current 8th seed (if they can maintain that) but is that really worthy of a multi-year extension?

“Making the playoffs is not enough for us, once we’re there, we want to make a run. We have all of the pieces to do that. And playing against anybody in the Eastern Conference, I think it’s up for grabs.”

-Stephon Marbury, on the 29-34 Knicks.

Former NBA player John Amaechi became the first openly gay male athlete to sign an endorsement deal with a mainstream company.

More on this to come!