Phil Jackson was fined $25,000 by the NBA on Wednesday for comments he made about the referees working a game between the Lakers and Jazz over the weekend.

"The big key with Drew is they wouldn't let him play," Jackson said following the game.

Jackson called the matchup a "roughhouse game" and it was "one of those nights in Utah that you know you're going to get."

"The league throws out some referee corps that you're dubious about to start with and, you know, the game ends up to be like that," he said.

Phil Jackson blamed referees Leroy Richardson, Derrick Stafford and Derek Richardson for Andrew Bynum's four point effort, a day after the Lakers' 114-108 loss in Salt Lake City.

"The big key with Drew is they wouldn't let him play," Jackson said Saturday. "They called a walk on him that wasn't a walk. He was fumbling the ball around and they were smacking him around. It was just a roughhouse game.

"It was one of those nights in Utah that you know you're going to get," Jackson said. "The league throws out some referee corps that you're dubious about to start with and, you know, the game ends up to be like that. [Utah Coach] Jerry [Sloan] plays into that well. He gets a technical and gets them intimidated and things get a little bit rough. But these [players] know that that's what it's going to be like out there and if they don't, then it's a real good learning experience."

Luke Walton is leading the NBA in 3-point field goal percentage so far this season.  He eliminated the knuckle-ball effect that his shot had in the past and has made 11 of 17 (64.7%) from beyond the arc, a percentage that tops all players with 15 or more attempts.

"He's kind of found a stroke that he's relying on now that looks much better," Lakers Coach Phil Jackson said. "That's what we're looking for, that he consistently holds his own out there as a shooter. We don't consider him per se a three-point shooter, but we're really glad that he's able to take the shots and make them."

Phil Jackson is an admirer of the Bulls, according to the Chicago Tribune, saying that the team is relentless but lacking a strong offensive punch.

"People around the league will say there's not another team that plays with the same intensity," he said. "They're a pushed, driven team. You don't get a recovery moment where you can [walk] back on defense. You turn around and they're on you."

Usually assistants scout opponents and draw up the teams' plays for the players to look at before the game. Jackson does it for one team a season and picked the Bulls this season. So what did he see?

"Sometimes there is more froth than substance," Jackson said. "Kind of like a latte. Not much there."

"They have trouble scoring, but they will push you to the extreme. They will wear you out because they work so hard. But the teams that have beaten the Bulls have really attacked them inside."

Kobe Bryant became the youngest player in NBA history to reach 17,000 points, going over the mark in the second quarter of the Lakers' game against the Raptors on Friday night.

Bryant hit a 16-foot jumper from the right baseline off a pass from Jordan Farmar for his 17,001st point.

On Friday, Kobe Bryant and the Lakers will play the Toronto Raptors for the first time since he scored 81 points against them.  He has never watched the performance on tape.

"I've thought about it, just because I've been asked about it so many times," Bryant said. "It's allowed me to kind of reflect about it, (but) I haven't had a chance to sit down and watch the game."

Kobe Bryant says he doesn't recall the circumstances that form the basis for a lawsuit filed by a spectator claiming the Lakers guard struck him during a game last season.

According to the lawsuit, filed this week by Bill Geeslin in a Tennessee court, Bryant, apparently chasing a loose ball during a game against the Grizzlies in Memphis, "left the basketball court and entered the spectators' section where Bill Geeslin was sitting ? and violently struck Mr. Geelsin with [his] elbow."

Said Bryant on Wednesday at the team's El Segundo training center, "I really don't know too much about it?. Players are always going to try to save a loose ball and win the game. That's something a player has to do. I don't actually remember the play. That's what makes it so interesting."

Geeslin is asking for more than $75,000 in damages.

An Arkansas man filed a federal lawsuit against NBA star Kobe Bryant claiming the Lakers guard deliberately elbowed him during a game last year against the Memphis Grizzlies, the Associated Press is reporting.

Bill Geeslin was a spectator in the stands Nov. 14 when the Lakers played the Grizzlies in Memphis. His three-page lawsuit filed Tuesday claims that Bryant came off the court during play, landed on Geeslin and "without provocation" committed assault and battery when he violently struck Geeslin with his elbow.

Geeslin claims seeks more than $75,000 in damages for unspecified injuries that required medical attention.

Lakers center Chris Mihm on Tuesday underwent successful surgery on his right ankle and will miss the rest of the season.

Mihm injured the ankle on March 12 and played just one more game last season.

The 7-foot center underwent surgery on July 26, causing him to miss training camp, the entire exhibition schedule and all eight regular-season games.

Phil Jackson has heard enough from Gregg Popovich about the 'injustice' of Larry Brown receiving just $18.5 million of the $40 million his contract that was owed to him.

"If [Brown's settlement] was a concern to people, Popovich probably should have weighed in on [Donald] Sterling about two or three coaches ago when he was breaking all their contracts. That was the time he should have been backing up coaches, not about a $40 million situation that ends up with $18 million. It's about guys that were owed $500,000 or $600,000 who needed that kind of money."