A day later, the NBA blew the whistle on Dahntay Jones for tripping Kobe Bryant.
The league assessed Denver's defensive specialist a flagrant-1 foul yesterday for sending the Lakers' star sprawling through the lane with a trip late in the third quarter Monday night, something Bennett Salvatore's officiating crew missed. Jones has three flagrant-foul points in the playoffs; one more and he's suspended for a game.
Also yesterday, the league office downgraded Los Angeles center Andrew Bynum's flagrant-1 foul against Chris Andersen to a personal foul, and fined Lakers coach Phil Jackson $25,000 and the team the same amount for his public criticisms of the referees after Game 4 of the Western Conference Finals.
Jackson was angry with the free-throw discrepancy -- Denver's 49 attempts were 14 more than the Lakers -- and he accused Jones of a dirty play for tripping Bryant during a rant about the officiating after Denver's 120-101 win that evened the series at 2-2.
Celtics
Kevin Garnett had surgery yesterday on his right knee after missing all of the playoffs.
Boston's defensive star and inspirational leader had bone Spurs removed during the arthroscopic surgery.
"I expect Kevin to return to active duty in full force and be that consummate two-way professional that he has shown all of us throughout his fantastic NBA career," coach Doc Rivers said.
Garnett was the NBA's defensive player of the year in 2007-08, his first season with Boston and 13th in the league. He was an outstanding defender again this season but was limited to 57 games. With a strained tendon along with the bone Spurs, Garnett played in just four games in the last two months of the regular season.
Two days before the Celtics began their first-round playoff series against the Chicago Bulls, Rivers said he didn't expect Garnett to play at all in the postseason. The Celtics won that series in seven games then were eliminated by the Orlando Magic in seven, ending their hopes to repeat as NBA champions.
Garnett's 57 games were the second fewest in his career. He averaged 15.8 points with 8.5 rebounds and 1.1 blocks.
His knee was hurt Feb. 19 against the Utah Jazz and then he missed the next 13 games before returning for four and playing a total of 66 minutes. But he aggravated the injury against Orlando while jumping for a rebound and didn't play again.
Elsewhere
The NBA will play a preseason game in Monterrey, Mexico, between the Phoenix Suns and Philadelphia 76ers Oct. 18. The game will be the NBA's 18th in Mexico and second in Monterrey. In 2006 in Monterrey, the Golden State Warriors defeated the Denver Nuggets before a sellout crowd. The NBA already had announced the Chicago Bulls will play the Utah Jazz in London Oct. 6. So far, the NBA has played 93 games outside the United States and Canada in 16 countries and territories.
