INDIANAPOLIS (AP) – Shaquille O’Neal was suspended without pay by the NBA on Monday, one day after using obscene language and publicly criticizing the officials during a television interview.

The suspension was announced just hours after O’Neal issued a statement apologizing for the comments he made following the Lakers’ 84-83 victory over the Toronto Raptors on Sunday.

O’Neal will serve the suspension Monday night, sitting out a game against the Eastern Conference-leading Indiana Pacers. It will cost him nearly $295,000.

Lakers coach Phil Jackson called the punishment “rather severe and childish in some ways.”

Jackson said he thought a fine would have been appropriate and that the fans would be penalized by not being able to see O’Neal in the Lakers’ lone trip to Indianapolis.

“The league is known for its vindictiveness,” Jackson said. “But we didn’t anticipate a suspension.”

O’Neal scored a season-high 36 points against the Raptors in his third game back after missing 12 because of a strained right calf, but was angered by the officiating.

He made that clear in his postgame interview on KCAL-TV – conducted almost immediately after the game.

“My message to (commissioner) David Stern is get some people in there that understand the game and don’t try to take over the … game because people pay good money to see good athletes play,” O’Neal said.

When reminded he was on live TV, O’Neal responded with another profanity before the interview continued.

“My comments were made out of frustration in the heat of the moment,” O’Neal said in the statement released Monday by the Lakers. “But I realize that my choice of words was inappropriate and again, I would like to apologize.”

The game in Indiana was the second of a seven-game road trip for the Lakers, who played without injured stars Kobe Bryant and Karl Malone, as well as O’Neal.

Jackson said “there was no precedence” for the suspension, but that the team will accept it and move on.

General manager Mitch Kupchak informed Jackson of the news hours after the team was game-planning to get O’Neal the ball early and often against the Pacers, Jackson said.

“I didn’t get any satisfaction from their reasoning,” Jackson said.

It was the latest in what has been a season full of injuries and drama for the Lakers.

“There’s never been anything like this in my tenure,” Jackson said of the injuries and Bryant’s legal troubles.

Pacers forward Ron Artest said he would have preferred to see O’Neal in the lineup Monday night.

“I would rather have him play,” said Artest, who added that he thought the suspension was deserved. “You don’t want to play against a team that’s not full strength.”

AP-ES-02-02-04 1833EST