From The Start Jackson Felt Referees Were Dubious

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."