The NBA kicked back at Kristaps Porzingis on Wednesday, but it was more of a soft tap than a full-blown boot.
The Mavericks’ big man was fined $15,000 for kicking a ball into the spectators behind the basket in the fourth quarter of Tuesday’s 130-92 loss at Golden State.
The incident happened with 8:21 left in the blowout and resulted in Porzingis getting a technical foul and being ejected, although the kick was not an egregious hard punt.
It landed softly in the stands. But the rules nevertheless are specific about such conduct.
Said Porzingis after Tuesday’s game: “Just the whole game, not going our way at all. Especially not my way at all. The frustration accumulated and I reacted wrong. I want to apologize to all those fans that were sitting right there. It wasn’t my intention to kick the ball toward them at all. Just frustration on my side.”
Coach Jason Kidd said the mistake by Porzingis is something every competitor has probably thought about at one time or another.
“Yes, (there have been times) I thought about kicking the ball, but I’m afraid I’m going to miss it,” Kidd said. “That would not go good and then I wouldn’t get my money’s worth.”
Kidd was glad the incident didn’t impact the game, but he said it’s a hard lesson in terms of losing money unnecessarily.
“Yeah, it happens,” he said. “Frustration set in for KP last night. We got to make sure that doesn’t happen. Got to keep our composure. Everybody was frustrated. But a lesson learned. You don’t need to waste money by kicking the ball into the stands.”
The fine actually was a discount in respect to what then-Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle got in 2012, when he shanked the ball off the side of his foot when he was trying to kick it back to a referee. The ball instead went off at an angle into the baseline stands.
Carlisle was tagged for $35,000 for that infraction.
Among others who have famously kicked basketballs into the stands are former Mavericks’ coach Don Nelson and Charles Barkley.
Twitter: @ESefko
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