Butler Is Suspended for One Game

Laker forward Caron Butler was suspended by the league for Saturday’s game against the Miami Heat because he was ejected from Wednesday’s game for throwing a punch.

Laker officials disagreed with the ruling, which will take away the team’s third-leading scorer for the most anticipated game of the regular season. Butler, who played for Miami last season, also was fined $21,450 of his $1.9-million salary.

“We did not feel what he did justified being suspended for one game,” General Manager Mitch Kupchak said. “I understand how the league can look at it and say he was swinging. Yeah, he was swinging, but he was trying to get the guy off of him.”

Butler hit New Orleans guard Dan Dickau in the abdominal area after Dickau fell onto the back of Butler’s legs and knocked him over in the final few minutes of the Lakers’ 101-89 victory. Dickau was assessed a technical foul on the play but was not fined or suspended.

After the game, Butler denied punching Dickau, saying his hand was open as he tried to pull Dickau off his legs.

“I’m a classy dude,” Butler said Wednesday. “That’s the last thing I do, is throw a punch.”

Butler, averaging 13.3 points and 4.9 rebounds, was not made available for comment Thursday after practice. The Lakers cannot appeal the suspension.

“I did not think that was a punch,” Coach Rudy Tomjanovich said before the ruling was announced. “He was put in a real vulnerable [position]. When your knee has been through what he’s been through

Butler, slowed by a knee injury at the start of last season, played his first two seasons with Miami before being sent to the Lakers in July as part of the Shaquille O’Neal trade.

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Phil Jackson has spent most of his time in Montana since leaving the Lakers in June, but he never seems to drift far from the team he coached to three championships in five seasons.

Jackson said he was intrigued by Saturday’s matchup between his former team and his former center. Without declaring a winner, he offered up an analysis of the Bryant-O’Neal showdown.

“Neither one of them guard each other, but defensively, you could anticipate that Kobe is going to challenge the basket and Shaq is going to protect the paint,” Jackson told NBA.com. “So that is going to be the most intriguing part. I think Shaq has stated that himself, if I’m not mistaken. He said he’s going to be the wall and Kobe’s a Corvette or something like that.

“Shaq has a tendency to get very excited about things like this and very emotional, whereas Kobe may be emotional but may not show it. So that should be interesting to see. How the crowd is going to play into that I think is going to be very interesting.”

Jackson also identified which books he would recommend for Bryant and O’Neal, as per his annual custom when he was coach. He would give O’Neal a copy of “Meetings With Remarkable Men” and would give Bryant the book “When Bad Things Happen to Good People.”

Jackson’s insights on the current Lakers, who are 14-11, weren’t glowing.

“Well, they’re going to struggle because they’re a three-point shooting team,” he said. “They’re going to struggle on the nights they don’t shoot well. They’re going to have a hard time and it’s pretty much obvious that until Vlade Divac comes back, or unless they use Lamar Odom, they’re going to be pretty much a penetrate-and-pitch team right now. That’s about it.”

Jackson does not miss coaching.

“The NBA is not having a great year,” he said. “Things are not the rosiest that I’ve ever seen. I’m glad not to have to be part of it.”