Lakers take another hit

No Kobe Bryant, no Lamar Odom, no Luke Walton, no Vladimir Radmanovic and no Ronny Turiaf.

No problem? Um, no.

Already short-handed because of so many injuries, the Lakers found themselves with only nine players when the league handed Bryant his second one-game suspension in a little over a month, again for striking a player in the face while flailing his arms after getting his shot blocked.

The predictable aftermath of Wednesday’s decision was a 110-90 loss to the Milwaukee Bucks at the Bradley Center. The Lakers (33-29) have lost four consecutive games, 16 of 23 and play Friday against the suddenly alert Philadelphia 76ers before heading home to face the league-leading Dallas Mavericks on Sunday.

It didn’t look like things could have gone from bad to awful after Tuesday’s double-overtime loss in Minnesota, but they did when league disciplinarian Stu Jackson didn’t buy the explanation that Bryant made contact with Marko Jaric in his follow-through after the Timberwolves’ guard blocked his shot. One of Bryant’s arms caught the face of Jaric, who fell to the court and remained there for several seconds but did not leave the game.

Bryant, who will lose $161,080 in salary, was called for a foul on the play, which was similar to the one that landed him a one-game suspension in late January. That time, he struck San Antonio guard Manu Ginobili in the face after his shot was blocked late in regulation of a Lakers’ overtime loss. He was suspended for the next game, a loss in New York.

Jackson, the league’s executive vice president of basketball operations, again referred to a “hard arm being driven backward in an aggressive manner.”

“That movement is not an acceptable movement,” Jackson said. “I have not [previously] seen this type of contact where a player drives his arm like that.”

Jackson considered suspending Bryant for multiple games this time and said he would surely do so if the Lakers guard were to strike another player.

League rules barred Bryant from being in the arena for the game. Others in the organization backed him up.

“I think I’m going to have to put about 50 clips of Kobe shooting his shot with his arms going out like that so the judger of this deed of Kobe’s sees that he does this a lot,” Coach Phil Jackson said. “It’s not an unnatural basketball motion for him. We’ve seen it all the way through our basketball lives. But in this league, everybody’s got a pretty face and we try to keep it that way.”

Said General Manager Mitch Kupchak: “The NBA has spoken. It’s unfortunate. We disagree with the decision, but we don’t have time to dwell on it.”

Phil Jackson said he had a feeling what would happen, calling the play “awful similar” to the Ginobili play.

He felt inclined to protect Bryant, saying All-Star guard Gilbert Arenas also fishes for foul calls by flailing his arms if his shot gets blocked. Jackson also fired back when asked if the league interviewed Bryant for his side of the story.

“They never talk individually to people when they fine them,” he said. “They send their henchmen out to do their dirty work.”

He did, however, say the league wasn’t targeting Bryant.

“They assured us that they wouldn’t do that,” he said. “They certainly wouldn’t want a player of his quality not to be in the game, particularly when we only come to Milwaukee once a year.”

Bucks fans noticed, one of them holding up a sign listing her costs associated with the game -- $71 for a ticket, $100 for a new Bryant jersey, $10 for parking -- and a sarcastic “Thanks a lot, Dave,” apparently intended for NBA Commissioner David Stern.

The Lakers definitely needed Bryant, whose jersey was accidentally hung in a locker after being laundered by an arena cleaning crew before the game. Lakers equipment manager Rudy Garciduenas quickly removed it, along with any hopes of halting a losing streak.

The Bucks shot 59.5% and didn’t even need much from Michael Redd, who scored 45 points in the Bucks’ victory over the Lakers earlier in the season.

Redd had only 10 points, but the Bucks still swept the Lakers for the second time in 14 years.

The Lakers stayed close initially and trailed at halftime, 50-44, but gave up 60 second-half points as fatigue became a factor. The Lakers’ bench looked comically empty, with more assistant coaches (five) than reserves (four).

“I was looking down there for some help and there was nothing there,” Jackson said.

The Lakers played well in a loss to Phoenix on Sunday, then totally gave away the game to Minnesota and, after Wednesday’s result, face the possibility of an 0-4 trip.

Times staff writer Steve Springer contributed to this report.

mike.bresnahan@latimes.com