Utah Jazz center Rudy Gobert and Indiana Pacers center Myles Turner were among four players fined by the NBA on Friday after the two players got into a scuffle late in Thursday night’s game.
Gobert was fined $35,000 for initiating the on-court altercation, while Turner received a $25,000 fine for escalating it, the league said. Utah’s Donovan Mitchell ($30,000) and Joe Ingles ($20,000) also were fined.
The incident began after Gobert appeared to pull Turner down to the ground with him after Turner blocked his shot at the rim with just over four minutes left in the game. Turner responded by shoving Gobert in the back, which led the Jazz center to bear hug Turner and try to wrestle him to the floor.
Mitchell and Ingles joined the fray as members of both teams converged near the Jazz bench. Gobert, Turner, Mitchell and Ingles were all ejected.
The NBA said Mitchell was fined for “escalating an on-court altercation by verbally taunting an opponent,” while Ingles was fined for
“making inappropriate contact” with an official during the altercation.
After the game, Mitchell pinned the scuffle on built-up frustration over the referees allowing too much contact early in the game.
“That whole thing could have been avoided — just draw the line early, as opposed to letting it build up for the whole game,” Mitchell said.
Gobert said that the officials “allow guys to do way too much s—” but noted that he didn’t feel like it was a situation where he needed to throw a punch.