NEW YORK (AP) Nets general manager Sean Marks was suspended one game without pay and fined $25,000 by the NBA on Sunday for entering the referees’ locker room after Brooklyn’s loss to Philadelphia in Game 4 of their playoff series.
The Nets lost 112-108 on Saturday in a game in which Brooklyn’s Jared Dudley and Philadelphia’s Jimmy Butler were ejected after a scuffle broke out following Joel Embiid’s flagrant foul against Jarrett Allen in the third quarter.
The Nets were already angry about a flagrant foul Embiid committed against Allen in Game 2, believing it should have warranted an ejection, and coach Kenny Atkinson complained that the 76ers held Allen before he turned the ball over on the Nets’ last chance to tie Saturday’s game. Atkinson said coaches were told that wrapping players as they tried to roll to the basket would be a point of emphasis this season.
The NBA agreed with Atkinson on Sunday in its Last 2 Minutes report, determining that Tobias Harris should have been called for a foul for wrapping his arm around Allen and restricting his movement with 12 seconds remaining.
Marks’ penalty was announced by Byron Spruell, the NBA’s president of league operations. He will serve his suspension Tuesday, when the 76ers try to wrap up the series in Game 5 in Philadelphia.
Nets minority owner Joseph Tsai offered support for Marks on Twitter .
”My partners and I have spoken and the entire Nets ownership group support our GM Sean Marks for protesting the wrong calls and missed calls,” he wrote. ”NBA rules are rules and we respect that, but our players and fans expect things to be fair.”
The NBA later fined Dudley $25,000 and Butler $15,000, saying they both escalated the altercation that spilled into the stands.
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