No fine for Marcus Smart
Adam Himmelsbach: Was told that Marcus Smart has avoided a fine for voicing his frustrations about foul calls after the Celtics’ loss to the Rockets.
Fines Rumors
NBA will not fine Damian Lillard
Portland Trail Blazers star Damian Lillard will not be fined by the league for his postgame remarks and tweets directed at officials following a missed goaltend that resulted in a loss to the Utah Jazz on Friday night, league sources told Yahoo Sports. Lillard was interviewed by the league on Saturday, sources said.
Sources said the explanation officials provided to a few members of the Trail Blazers on the court at the time of the controversy was that it “wasn’t even close” to a goaltend, which further infuriated the team. “We get to the last play of the game, and they miss an easy call,” Lillard said during his postgame address after the 117-114 loss. “And then they tell us that’s an easy no-call, like that was obviously not a goaltend. It cost us a f—ing game, man.”
Adrian Wojnarowski: NBA fines Orlando coach Steve Clifford $25K for “abusing” officials in Thursday loss to Knicks — after L2M report concluded that officials failed to see/hear him asking for timeout with 4.4 seconds left and missed a foul call on Knicks with four seconds left.
Marc Berman: Elfrid Payton in first comments since his suspension without pay for shoving Jae Crowder: “It is what it is. I can’t expect everybody to see life like me. Yeah we talked (to the NBA). Moving forward.”
The Cleveland Cavaliers are aware of the incident involving a courtside fan and Toronto Raptors point guard Kyle Lowry late in the fourth quarter of Thursday night’s game, and are looking into it before deciding on discipline, league sources tell cleveland.com. After Raptors center Serge Ibaka swatted a rebound back toward the sideline, Lowry hustled over to save the ball, dove into a pair of spectators seated near center court and was shoved with two hands in the back by one out-of-line fan. Lowry immediately looked behind him and seemed to say something before getting back into the play.
