The NBA has suspended Houston Rockets guard Marcus Smart for three games for “throwing a punch that made contact with the face” of Golden State Warriors strongman Charles Bassey, the league announced Thursday.
The incident occurred late in the third quarter of Wednesday night’s game at Houston. After Smart and Bassey get tangled across the room, Smart chased Bassey and punched him in the head.. They were quickly separated from there and Smart was eventually ejected from the game with a Level 2 flagrant foul. Despite his absence, the Rockets won the game 115-108.
What triggered the incident? “I just talked to (Smart). He said they were wrapped up and (Smart’s) elbow that he hurt was bent,” Rockets coach Ime Udoka said after the game. “So, (Smart) said something to him. Bassey said, ‘What are you going to do?’ And he did it.”
Marcus Smart called out ‘fake toughness’ after throwing punch at Warriors’ Charles Bassey
Brad Botkin
Bassey, for his part, blamed Smart for what happened. “He played dirty the whole game,” the Warriors big man said. “In the first half, I was trying to set a screen and he grabbed my knee. So I mean, he was playing dirty. (On the play in question), I think I was trying to get a rebound and he was grabbing my hand and I was trying to get back on defense. … And then he got up on me and swung. Obviously, it was weak. I think it was, honestly, fake toughness.”
As for what kind of words were exchanged between Smart and Bassey? “He said something to me,” Bassey said. “He said something like, ‘Hey, don’t do that.’ I said, “Do what?” It’s an adult men’s league. »
Smart is no stranger to the NBA sport. He has 12 expulsions, nine fines (excluding flop and technical foul fines) and two suspensions during his 13-year career. Now, the 9-3 Rockets will be without a key guard for the next three games, but fortunately for them, their next three opponents are all below .500: the Utah Jazz, Washington Wizards and Miami Heat.
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