BRYANT KEPT AT ARM'S LENGTH LAKERS STAR GETS SUSPENDED FOR ELBOW L.A. LOSES MILWAUKEE 110, LAKERS 90.

Byline: ROSS SILER

Staff Writer

MILWAUKEE -- As soon as he saw Kobe Bryant's arm meet Marko Jaric's head late in the fourth quarter of Tuesday's loss to Minnesota, Lakers coach Phil Jackson had a feeling Bryant would be getting another call from the league office.

"In this league, everybody's got a pretty face," Jackson said, "and they're trying to keep it that way."

Those fears were confirmed Wednesday when the NBA followed the precedent it set in suspending Bryant for one game at the end of January after he struck San Antonio's Manu Ginobili in the head on a nearly identical play.

The league suspended Bryant for Wednesday night's game against the Milwaukee Bucks, leaving the Lakers with only nine available players -- six of them guards -- after forward Ronny Turiaf was unable to play due to back spasms.

What followed was a punchless 110-90 loss at Bradley Center in which the Lakers trailed from start to finish. The Bucks shot 59.5 percent as a team with Charlie Villanueva (26 points) and Andrew Bogut (22 points) each making 10 of 12 shots.

The Lakers lost their fourth consecutive game, dropping to 0-3 on this road trip, and must win Friday at Philadelphia to avoid becoming the first Jackson-coached team ever to suffer two five-game losing streaks in the same season.

Only 21/2 weeks ago, Bryant's personal comeback was the story of the NBA's All-Star weekend. He was selected as the game's MVP and judged the dunk contest alongside Michael Jordan, Dominique Wilkins and Julius Erving.

Now Bryant is viewed as a repeat offender in the eyes of the league office.

He was suspended from the Lakers' Jan. 30 loss to NewYork for the play involving Ginobili and watched Wednesday's game from the team hotel.

Jackson said Bryant was trying to draw a foul on the play by flailing his arm.

Bryant, who was not available for comment, lost more than $161,000 in pay from the suspension.

For the second time this season, Stu Jackson, the NBA's executive vice president of basketball operations, had to explain the decision to suspend Bryant. Jackson was specifically asked about the perception that the league was singling out Bryant.

"My response to that," Jackson said in a teleconference, "would be that I've not seen this type of contact exhibited by a player whereby the player takes a shot, follows through and then drives an arm backward into a defender's body making contact above the shoulders. I have not."

Stu Jackson said he was "very surprised" to see a second, nearly identical, incident involving Bryant. He added that he considered suspending Bryant for multiple games and put Bryant on notice that a third offense would be dealt with more harshly.

"In cases where we've had multiple offenses, at some point the player becomes a recidivist," Jackson said, "and certainly, if this occurs again, most likely there would be multiple games."

The play in question happened with 58.7 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter of a double-overtime loss to Minnesota. Bryant pulled up for a jumper and Jaric got a hand on the ball to block the shot.

Bryant then swung his right arm and connected with Jaric in the face. He was called for a loose ball foul on the play; Jaric stayed in the game and went on to make a key block of Kwame Brown with 8.4 seconds left in regulation.

"I think I'm going to have to put about 50 clips (together) of Kobe shooting his shot with his arms going out like that," Phil Jackson said. "It's not an unnatural basketball motion for him."

Although Lakers general manager Mitch Kupchak issued a statement saying in part, "We disagree with and are disappointed in the league's decision," Phil Jackson's pregame comments were tinged with resignation instead of outrage.

"We saw it happen and said, 'That's awful similar to what happened in L.A. versus San Antonio' right off the bat," Jackson said.

He later credited the league for one thing, "If they're going to make a call, even if they're wrong, they'll still be consistent."

Stu Jackson admitted that he didn't talk to Bryant about the incident, leaving that task for an NBA security official. Asked if he had a problem with that, Phil Jackson said: "They never talk individually to people. They send their henchmen out to do their dirty work."

The coach said he tried to find the positive in the suspension for Bryant, who played 53 minutes in the double-overtime game. With a night of rest, Bryant might be better served for upcoming games against Philadelphia and Dallas.

"It'll come out at the other end somewhere, and that's what he has to look at," Jackson said.

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CAPTION(S):

3 photos

Photo:

(1 -- color) Without Kobe Bryant, Sasha Vujacic and the Lakers lost to the Milwaukee Bucks.

(2) The Lakers' Smush Parker, center, loses his balance after he is fouled by the Bucks' Charlie Villanueva, left, as Ruben Patterson looks on in the first half Wednesday in Milwaukee.

Darren Hauck/Associated Press

(3 -- color) BRYANT