HOUSTON (AP) — Marcus Smart of the Houston Rockets could be facing a fine or suspension for throwing a punch at Charles Bassey of the Golden State Warriors, pending the results of an NBA investigation into the circumstances around the incident.
Smart was ejected with 21 seconds left in the third quarter of the Rockets-Warriors game on Wednesday night after his punch at Bassey was declared a Flagrant 2 foul — “contact to the nose,” referee crew chief Mitchell Ervin said after the play was reviewed.
The Flagrant 2 comes with an automatic ejection, which is then reviewed by the league office. The Rockets next play on Friday, and it's almost certain that the league will hand down further penalty by then if it deems one is warranted.
Bassey told reporters in Houston after Wednesday's game that he felt Smart had been “playing dirty” throughout the contest.
“It didn’t surprise me. I knew he was going to do something,” Bassey said. “I don’t think he was trying to play. I think he was trying to get himself out of the game. ... That was fake, fake toughness.”
Rockets coach Ime Udoka said he spoke with Smart after the game. Smart's perspective, Udoka said, was that he and Bassey got tangled up and that Smart felt challenged.
“Bassey said, ‘What you gonna do?’ And he did it,” Udoka said.
Past incidents and history
Smart, then of Boston, was suspended for one game in 2015 for hitting Matt Bonner of the San Antonio Spurs in the groin. He also got a one-game suspension in 2021 for directing threatening language toward a game official.
Smart has been fined on at least 12 other occasions for various on-court disciplinary matters, including involvement in at least four altercations — one meriting a $50,000 fine for shoving Philadelphia's Joel Embiid in 2019. At that time, the league cited “his repeated acts of unsportsmanlike conduct during NBA games” as justification for the higher-than-usual fine.
He is also a past winner of the NBA's Hustle and Defensive Player of the Year awards, plus was honored by the league's NBA Cares program in 2022 for his work with pediatric cancer patients and creating opportunities for inner-city student-athletes.
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