Marcus Smart Hit With $35,000 Fine For Verbally Abusing Referees
BOSTON (CBS) -- Marcus Smart will not lose any game checks for his animated discussion with officials following Tuesday night's frustrating Celtics loss to the Brooklyn Nets. But the meltdown is going to cost him a decent amount of cheddar.
The NBA has fined Smart $35,000 for "confronting and verbally abusing the game officials," the league announced Thursday. Smart, who fouled out during the overtime frame Tuesday night, had to be restrained and escorted off the floor after he berated referees following Boston's loss.
While many Celtics fans would argue that Smart had a case, given the number of questionable calls late in Tuesday's game, he should probably know better at this point in his career.
"The amount of Smart's fine also reflects his multiple prior violations of acceptable on-court decorum," the league said in its release.
Then again, when Marcus Smart wants to get something off his chest, Marcus Smart is going to get something off his chest.
While that isn't great news for Smart's wallet, no suspension is great news for the Celtics, a team dealing with a handful of injuries at the moment. There are questions whether Jaylen Brown (strained hamstring) and Gordon Hayward (knee contusion) will be able to play, but Boston no longer has to worry about Smart being unavailable for Friday night's game against the Utah Jazz.
Smart is no stranger to hearing from the league about his antics. This is the eighth time that the Boston guard has been fined by the league this season, with six of those fines coming because of technical fouls. The other fine was for his ejection (for getting two technicals) in a loss against the Detroit Pistons in January. For his career, Smart has been fined $318,848 by the NBA.
