NEW YORK — Washington Wizards guard Isaiah Thomas was fined $25,000 by the NBA on Saturday for making inappropriate contact with a game official.
Thomas received a technical foul and was ejected early in the Wizards’ 122-103 home loss to the Portland Trail Blazers on Friday night.
Thomas was tied up along the sideline by Portland’s Carmelo Anthony. As Thomas broke away from Anthony, he made contact with referee Marat Kogut, who stumbled into the crowd.
“He made physical contact with the referee,” crew chief Mark Ayotte said in a pool report after Friday’s game. “It was definitely just a push during the dead ball contact with the referee.”
Wizards coach Scott Brooks thought the contact was accidental.
“I mean, I had a different view of it, obviously,” Brooks said Friday. “They were in a scrum and they were fighting for the ball, a jump ball. I had a view that it looked like he lost his balance, but [Kogut] had a better view and then they looked at it. They looked at it, so you would hope they made the right call.”
According to Elias Sports Bureau research, the most recent player to be ejected within the first two minutes of an NBA game was Utah’s Greg Ostertag on Dec. 8, 2002, against the Lakers in Los Angeles.
Thomas received a two-game suspension after walking into the stands to confront two fans following a timeout in Philadelphia on Dec. 21.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Source : ESPN
