Nobody should be surprised that Kobe Bryant drew another one-game suspension for knocking someone else in the nose with his elbow, but the guy on the receiving end of that elbow actually thought the penalty was undeserved."As players, we know during a game when someone is trying to hurt you or be mean, and I never thought that was what was happening. So I'm really surprised by the decision," Minnesota's Marko Jaric told me this afternoon via cell phone about an hour after the NBA announced Bryant's one-game suspension.Jaric said his only scar from the incident was a small mark above his eye, which is probably pretty fortunate since the elbow from Bryant gave Jaric a bloody nose, and as anybody who's ever been struck in the nose knows, a black eye often comes next. Just ask Manu Ginobili, who walked around with a shiner for two weeks after getting hit by Bryant's elbow in the Jan. 28 incident that previously earned Bryant a one-game suspension."I haven't seen the replay, but if you ask me what I thought about the play when it happened, I don't think he did it intentionally, and I don't think players should be suspended for things that happen unintentionally," Jaric said. "I think he was trying to draw a foul, and he swung his hand out to make it look dramatic, and he hit me by accident. He apologized right after."Jaric said the pain from the strike was only a "2 or 3" on a scale of 1 to 10.I'm a little surprised that Stu Jackson didn't give Bryant a two-game suspension, since the league is never shy about hammering home a message when someone keeps going astray the same way. And don't forget, Bryant drew a two-game suspension last season for a particularly nasty elbow against Mike Miller, so it's not like this is only the second time his elbows have gotten him in trouble.I asked Jackson why he wasn't more harsh with Bryant and he left no doubt that he wil be next time."We considered suspending him for multiple games," Jackson siad. "At some point a player becomes a recidivist, and if this happens again, most likely, there will be multilple games."Jackson also said the fact that Jaric was able to continue playing worked in Bryant's favor. But Jackson also insisited that Bryant is not being singled out for any more punishment than he rightly deserves."Since I've been here, I've not seen this type of conduct exhibited by a player -- driving his arm backwards and making contact above the shoulder -- I have not seen that," Jackson said.Jackson said he didn't try to judge Bryant's intent."I don't want to speak to intent because I'm not in the business of reading minds," Jackson said. "I'm simply evaluating the play as a basketball play. And striking someone in the face, that's what we evaluated to be an unacceptable play."I've already spoken to the Lakers and to Bryant's agent, and Kobe does not plan to say anything publicly today. I imagine he'll have plenty to say Thursday or Friday in Philadelphia before the fans down there serenade him with the venom that always spices up Bryant's return to his hometown.