Wednesday, March 07, 2007

Kobe Bryant suspended for striking Marko Jaric

From Chris Sheridan/ESPN:
The NBA is suspending Lakers guard Kobe Bryant for Wednesday night's game at Milwaukee for catching Minnesota Timberwolves guard Marko Jaric in the face Tuesday night.

After getting his shot blocked by Jaric, Bryant flailed his arms and caught Jaric in the face with 58.7 seconds left in regulation Tuesday.


Check out the NBA Fanhouse for video of the incident.


Jaric doesn't think Bryant deserved a suspension:
"I haven't seen the replay, but if you ask me what I thought about the play when it happened, I don't think he did it intentionally, and I don't think players should be suspended for things that happen unintentionally," Jaric told ESPN.com. "I think he was trying to draw a foul, and he swung his hand out to make it look dramatic, and he hit me by accident. He apologized right after."

Bryant was suspended in January for one game after a similar incident with the Spurs' Manu Ginobili.