Bryant Suspended for Tonight's Knicks Game
 

Kobe Bryant was shocked and subdued this morning after he arrived at Madison Square Garden for the Los Angeles Lakers’ shoot-around only to learn he would not be playing there tonight.

Bryant, the league’s marquee player, savors the Garden experience as much as New York fans come to see him perform there. But he was suspended by the N.B.A. for one game without pay for an incident in Sunday’s overtime loss to the San Antonio Spurs. The league said Bryant struck San Antonio’s Manu Ginobili in the face while attempting a game-winning shot in the final seconds of regulation.

Bryant said the contact was “completely” unintentional. “It’s a basketball game. You unintentionally catch people with elbows every once in a while,” Bryant said, shaking his head and adding: “I’m blown away by it, it makes no sense. We’re all in shock.”

Bryant left the morning shoot-around and spoke with the chief executive of the players’ union, Billy Hunter. In a telephone interview with The New York Times, Hunter said he had sent a request for an immediate appeal to Commissioner David Stern at 2:15 this afternoon, hoping that an expedited hearing might enable Bryant to play tonight.

He said had not yet heard a response from the league.

Hunter said the union made the appeal on Bryant’s behalf after he had “an hour-long” conversation with Bryant. He then spoke to Ginobili. “He couldn’t say it was intentional. He has no history with Kobe,” Hunter said.

On the play, Ginobili had blocked Bryant’s shot from behind. Bryant said he flailed his arms hoping to draw a foul. He knocked Ginobili to the court, but no foul was called at the buzzer. The Spurs went on to defeat the Lakers in overtime.

Lakers Coach Phil Jackson was equally upset at the morning shoot-around, asking how the league could suspend Bryant on a play that was not premeditated and adding that he has been “a little disappointed with how Kobe’s been treated as a premier player over the last couple of weeks.”

Jackson said Bryant’s punishment was part of the league’s effort to clean up its image after a brawl in Detroit two years ago and one last month at the Garden.

Today’s suspension, Jackson said, set a “real” precedent. “It does up the ante a lot,” Jackson said.

“I don’t think it got personal,” he added. “I think it has to do with how they want the game to be played. That’s somebody making a judgment out there that doesn’t know basketball, or know the game is played, just how it looks, and I think that’s the problem.”

In the last month alone, four other players have been suspended one game each for on-court incidents: Minnesota’s Kevin Garnett, the Warriors’ Baron Davis, Chicago’s Andres Nocioni and Raja Bell of Phoenix.

Bell was also suspended for one game for clotheslining Bryant in Game 5 of the first round of the Western Conference finals last season.

Bryant was stunned he could draw the same kind of suspension for an action he considered far milder.

“I guess they’re just trying to crack down, but to crack down on something that’s unintentional, what’s it going to lead to now?” Bryant said. He proposed a future scenario. “You go in there, you take an offensive foul, or a charge, you unintentionally knee somebody as you’re taking a charge, a player gets hurt and you get suspended? I don’t get it.”

Bryant said he was directed to speak by telephone to N.B.A. security officials when the Lakers landed in Newark on Monday evening, but he said he didn’t expect the disciplinary action. “It wasn’t something I went to bed worried about that I was going to get suspended,” Bryant said.

Bryant said he told the league officials that he checked to make sure Ginobili was okay after the play and again afterward.

“I said, ‘glad to see you’re doing alright, everything okay?’ I checked with him three times,” Bryant said. “He said, ‘I know it was an accident.’ ”

Bryant added: “I felt horrible about it.”

“I just love playing here in New York City. I love the energy. I love the excitement, the history of it,” Bryant said. “It hurts a lot. It’s always been my favorite place to play.”

Last season — just nine days after Bryant scored 81 points — he dazzled the Garden crowd by scoring 40 points in a 130-97 romp over the hapless Knicks.

Tonight, with Bryant coming in averaging 28.4 points per game, he was sure to fuel the energy of a Garden crowd that has had some, but not many, highlights to applaud this season.

“You feel badly. We have one appearance in Madison Square Garden, and people obviously look forward to this game,” Jackson said. “Kobe last year was being chanted M.V.P. on this court during the game. The crowd obviously likes him and likes to watch him play. To miss this game cheats the fans.”

Bryant’s teammate, rookie Jordan Farmar, was shocked but not surprised considering the direction of the N.B.A. this season. “The league’s trying to be strict in the way players are interacting on the court,” Jordan Farmar said. “They’re probably trying to make an example, and no one better than the best player in the game.”

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