NBA fines Clippers’ Barnes, Bulls’ Noah
May 8, 2015, 6:18 PM
Los Angeles Clippers' Austin Rivers (25) and Matt Barnes (22) walk off the court following Game 2 in a second-round NBA basketball playoff series against the Houston Rockets, Wednesday, May 6, 2015, in Houston. Houston won 115-109. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)
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LOS ANGELES (AP) — Los Angeles Clippers forward Matt Barnes was fined $50,000 by the NBA on Friday for directing inappropriate language at a courtside fan who turned out to be Houston star James Harden’s mother.
Barnes made the comments to Monja Willis during the Clippers’ Game 2 loss in Houston on Wednesday night.
“We’ve made our peace,” Barnes said Friday before Game 3. “We’ve spoken twice since the incident. She said something, I said something back. I’ve heard speculation of what I’ve likely said, which is crazy.”
Clippers coach Doc Rivers said he wasn’t pleased about the incident, especially because it involved someone off the court.
“I made that clear to Matt and the entire team,” he said before the game.
Barnes is an emotional player who has played his entire 12-year career with a chip on his shoulder.
“He has a crazy amount of intensity and sometimes it goes the wrong way,” Rivers said. “It’s our fault 100 percent, but people say stuff that is bogus to our guys and coaches and nothing ever happens. Even knowing that, you still have to be above it.”
Also Friday, the NBA fined Chicago Bulls center Joakim Noah $25,000 for pushing a fan at halftime of the Bulls’ loss to Cleveland in Game 2 on Wednesday night.
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