Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla has been fined $35K, whereas Nets middle Nic Claxton has been fined $25K, the NBA introduced Saturday in a pair of press releases (Twitter links).
Mazzulla was hit together with his wonderful for “aggressively pursuing and directing inappropriate language” towards a referee in Boston’s loss to the Bulls on Thursday. The Celtics’ coach got here onto the courtroom on the finish of the sport and needed to be held again by his assistants and a safety guard as he yelled at official Justin Van Duyne (Twitter video link).
Mazzulla was believed to be upset about technical fouls assessed to him, Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum through the fourth quarter of the loss, however he supplied a deadpan response when requested throughout his post-game media session about what he was saying to Van Duyne and the opposite referees.
“I simply hadn’t seen them shortly, so only a Merry Christmas, completely happy holidays,” Mazzulla stated (Twitter video link). “I wasn’t certain I used to be going to see them earlier than the vacation. I simply can’t let a second go by the place you would like somebody simply the very best to them and theirs and their households.”
As for Claxton, he earned his $25K wonderful for throwing the basketball into the spectator stands throughout Brooklyn’s win over Toronto on Thursday.
That incident occurred within the second quarter — after being fouled by Kelly Olynyk, the Nets middle tossed the ball into the gang, seemingly pissed off a few non-call on the earlier possession. He earned an ejection and in addition seemed to be on the verge of throwing a seat cushion earlier than assistant coach Juwan Howard intervened (Twitter video link). Claxton admitted after the game that he must do a greater job of conserving his feelings in verify on the courtroom.
“Yeah, he is aware of he needs to be higher, particularly this one,” head coach Jordi Fernandez stated, per Brian Lewis of The New York Post. “You may management your frustrations. That’s no cause to try this. I perceive that all of us have feelings, however the crew wants him. His teammates want him, and he is aware of it. And that’s why he’s going to return again and work and be higher.”