Sixers’ Jimmy Butler, Nets’ Jared Dudley fined after Game 4 melee
Jimmy Butler was fined $15,000 and Jared Dudley $25,000 for their roles in a Game 4 scrum. Nets' GM Sean Marks was suspended for one game and fined $25,000 for entering the referees locker room after the game. And Joel Embiid is two flagrant-foul points away from a suspension.
The 76ers’ opening-round playoff series against the Nets has had its share of subplots.
The two Atlantic Division rivals have engaged in trash talk, physical play and an on-court melee. On Saturday, during the Sixers’ 112-108 Game 4 win, Jimmy Butler and the Nets’ Jared Dudley were ejected. Now, you can add to the excitement Dudley and Butler being fined, the Nets general manager getting suspended and fined, and the NBA admitting the Sixers got away with two fouls near the end of the game.
The NBA announced Sunday that Dudley was fined $25,000 for shoving Joel Embiid and escalating an incident. Butler was fined $15,000 for shoving Dudley. Embiid said on Saturday that he would pay Butler’s fine, if he were to get one.
Butler and Dudley were ejected after a scrum with 7 minutes, 42 seconds left in the third quarter. The brouhaha began when Jarrett Allen was knocked to the court by Embiid on a layup attempt, and Embiid forcefully swiped at the ball.
Dudley took exception and rammed into Embiid. Butler then shoved the forward in the back underneath the basket. As players rushed in, Ben Simmons was knocked into Dudley, sending both players into front-row seats on the baseline
Embiid received a flagrant 1 foul for his actions on the play, bringing him up to two flagrant-foul points in the postseason. If a player compiles four flagrant-foul points, he receives an automatic one-game suspension.
Brooklyn GM Sean Marks was suspended one game without pay and fined $25,000 for entering the referees’ locker room following the matchup.
The play that might have motivated Marks to visit the refs came after Mike Scott hit a wide-open three-pointer from the corner on an assist from Embiid to give the Sixers a two-point with 19.7 seconds left.
On the ensuing possession, Allen turned over the ball while being triple-teamed by Embiid, Simmons and Tobias Harris. Simmons stole the ball and quickly passed to Harris, who was fouled with 4.8 seconds left.
He made both foul shots to give the Sixers a four-point cushion.
However, a report on the game’s last two minutes, released by NBA officiating on Sunday, indicated that the Sixers committed two fouls that weren’t called on the play. The NBA said Harris committed a foul by wrapping his arms around Allen on a pick with 12.0 seconds left. Then Simmons had a marginal-contact foul with 8.1 left before cleanly stealing the ball.
Brooklyn coach Kenny Atkinson had said during his Saturday postgame news conference that Allen was fouled before he was stripped of the ball.
“The big point of emphasis this year was the wrapping,” he said, "Wrapping a player when he rolls to the rim, wrapping around the waist ... But there’s a clear wrap by Tobias Harris on the roll.
“I’m just disappointed ... that’s a point of emphasis from Day 1 at the coaches’ meeting, how they could really emphasize it at the beginning of the game and end of game and all season. So how that all of the sudden doesn’t become a foul on the wrap, I don’t understand.”
Atkinson said he looked at a video clip of the play 10 times after the game.
“There’s a clear wrap,” he said.
Game 5 in the best-of-seven series is 8 p.m. Tuesday at the Wells Fargo Center.