Brown Practices, Will ‘Roll With the Punches’

The Los Angeles Police Department said Wednesday it was continuing to investigate allegations of sexual assault made against Kwame Brown, but the Laker center was not arrested and practiced with the team.

Police say a woman complained that Brown sexually assaulted her early last Saturday, hours after the Lakers defeated the Phoenix Suns in Game 3 of their best-of-seven playoff series.

“I’m just staying grounded, staying with my family,” Brown said Wednesday. “I’ll talk about it when the appropriate time is, but while it’s an investigation, I can’t speak about it. But I’m confident that it will get resolved.”

Jason Lee, an LAPD spokesman, said the investigation was ongoing and that the district attorney had been notified of it.

Brown’s attorney, Brian O’Neill, declined to comment on the allegations. When asked if he expected an arrest to be made, he said, “I certainly hope not.”

Brown, who had 14 points and three rebounds in Tuesday’s loss to the Suns in Game 5, is expected to play tonight in Game 6 at Staples Center.

“You’ve just got to roll with the punches,” Brown said. “Life goes on. I’ve got a duty to my team and to myself. Just go out and play. You’ve got to go to work every day, don’t you?”

Coach Phil Jackson acknowledged the possibility of a distraction for Brown, if not the rest of the team.

“It just takes the focus off the game for a second,” Jackson said. “That’s the one thing, these players need to be focused on one thing. It’s a one-pointed effort right now. We just hope that they get their minds back on the job. We visited that today.”

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Players on the Suns and Lakers lined up on their respective sides in defending or criticizing Raja Bell’s foul on Kobe Bryant in the fourth quarter of Game 5.

“I support him,” Sun guard Steve Nash said. “He made a pretty harsh play, but there’s been a lot of that in the playoffs. It’s impossible to expect people to make a bright decision every single time when we’re playing a very heated battle and people from the outside are constantly telling us that we got to be more physical. Kobe gets away with whatever he wants and that’s got to frustrate and pile up on a guy.”

Laker forward Lamar Odom viewed the play from a different lens. “That was a cheap shot and it was dirty,” Odom said. “But it’s over with, so I guess we put it behind us.”

Times staff writer Jerry Crowe contributed to this report.