Denver ? Sticking up for Kobe is proving costly, and Phil Jackson isn’t backing down.

Jackson and the Los Angeles Lakers were fined $50,000 apiece by the NBA on Thursday after the coach said the league was conducting a “witch hunt” against Kobe Bryant.

“I thought you only get fined for criticizing the officiating,” Jackson said. “They’re the sacred cows. But I find out somebody else has a sacred cow somewhere else.”

NBA executive vice president Stu Jackson said the fine was for Jackson’s “public criticisms of the NBA.”

“It’s never fun to face that kind of music,” Phil Jackson said. “It’s demeaning. It’s humiliating. It’s not just cause. There’s no stances you can take. So, you know, there’s nothing you can do but just swallow your pride and go on.”

Bryant recently received two one-game suspensions this season for striking players in the face after taking a shot. The league retroactively assessed Bryant with a flagrant foul for an elbow to Philadelphia’s Kyle Korver last week, a play that didn’t even draw a foul.