DENVER — A day later, the NBA blew the whistle on Dahntay Jones for tripping Kobe Bryant.

The league assessed Denver's defensive specialist a flagrant-1 foul for sending the Los Angeles Lakers' star sprawling through the lane with a trip late in the third quarter of Monday night's game, something Bennett Salvatore's officiating crew missed.

Jones has three flagrant-foul points in the playoffs; one more and he's suspended for a game.

Also yesterday, the league office downgraded Los Angeles center Andrew Bynum's flagrant-1 foul against Chris Andersen to a personal foul, and fined Lakers coach Phil Jackson $25,000 and the team the same amount for his public criticisms of the referees following Game 4 of the Western Conference finals.

Jackson was angry with the free throw discrepancy — Denver's 49 attempts were 14 more than the Lakers — and he accused Jones of a dirty play for tripping Bryant during a rant about the officiating following Denver's 120-101 win that evened the series.

Asked if he felt Jones went out of his way to trip Bryant, Jackson replied: "Yes. It's not the first time it's happened in this series."

Bryant kept things light when asked if Jones tried to trip him, deadpanning: "I just fell on my face for no reason. I'm a klutz."

WALLACE ANGERED OVER VAN GUNDY'S 'FLOPPING' REMARK

First, Shaquille O'Neal. Now, Ben Wallace.

For the second time this season, Orlando coach Stan Van Gundy has accused one of the NBA's biggest, baddest players of flopping.

On Monday, Van Gundy said he was bothered by the number of times Wallace and Cleveland Cavaliers point guard Mo Williams dropped to the floor in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference finals against the Magic. He said the pair "fell down more than a baby learning to walk."

Wallace, a four-time defensive player of the year and one of the league's most intimidating players, took offense to Van Gundy's remarks.

Speaking at yesterday's shootaround, Wallace suggested Van Gundy "come out here and do something about it" or shut up, adding an expletive for emphasis. "Whatever he says isn't going to change the way I play defense or the way we play defense. It is what it is."

LeBron James was amused by Van Gundy's comment about his teammate and was willing to wager the Magic's verbose coach wouldn't share his belief with Wallace.

"You guys know how Stan is, man." James said. "We all know Ben Wallace has never been a flopper. He'll never be a flopper and if you think he's a flopper, I bet you won't tell him to his face that's he's a flopper. I damn sure know you won't tell him to his face. I know that for a fact."

About 90 minutes before Game 4, Van Gundy said he wasn't bothered by Wallace's response to his comments and that he was just trying to explain that Cleveland isn't the only team with complaints.

"I had some plays I commented on," Van Gundy said. "Ben took offense, that's fine. I don't really care."

Van Gundy made the same claims about O'Neal in March, saying he flopped while guarding Magic center Dwight Howard. O'Neal played for Van Gundy in Miami for parts of two seasons.

Williams said he was unaware of Van Gundy's comments.

"That's what he said?" Williams asked before deciding not to escalate the feud. "OK. I play basketball. I don't talk to coaches. That doesn't help us win any basketball games."