Outrageous.
Updated: March 7, 2007, 4:45 PM ET
NBA suspends Kobe for tonight's game vs. BucksBy Chris Sheridan
ESPN.com
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.
Sheridan: Jaric Surprised
Nobody should be surprised that Kobe Bryant drew another one-game suspension for knocking someone else in the nose with his elbow, but the guy on the receiving end of that elbow actually thought the penalty was undeserved. Blog
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.
Bryant was called for a foul on the play. Bryant struck San Antonio guard Manu Ginobili in the face in similar fashion with two-tenths of a second left in the fourth quarter of the Lakers' 96-94 overtime loss Jan. 28 against the Spurs.
Bryant was not called for a foul on that play, but was suspended for the Lakers' next game.
Bryant was suspended in that incident for what league disciplinarian Stu Jackson called driving "a stiff arm backward."
Jaric said he was surprised that Bryant was suspended.
"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."
It is the fifth time that Bryant has been suspended by the NBA.
Chris Sheridan covers the NBA for ESPN Insider.
http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=2790534 
