Houston Rockets head coach Mike D’Antoni completely disagreed with the NBA handing Chris Paul a two-game suspension for his role in the fight that erupted Saturday night in Los Angeles.
Rajon Rondo (three games) and Brandon Ingram (four games) were also punished by the League.
Rockets not happy with Chris Paul’s two-game suspension after fight with Lakers https://t.co/9ZQaeE06pM
— Jonathan Feigen (@Jonathan_Feigen) October 22, 2018
D’Antoni says Paul had no choice but to react after being spat on by the Lakers’ point guard.
Per the Houston Chronicle:
“I don’t agree or anything close to it,” D’Antoni said of the NBA ruling. “It’s just not equitable. You watch the film, you watch the spit — you understand maybe he gets one (-game suspension). But what is he supposed to do? Stand there and get spit on? Take a punch in the face and then, ‘That’s OK?’”
Asked if he had ever seen Paul so angry, D’Antoni said: “I’ve never really seen him spit on before. That changes the equation. Yeah, I get it. It’s pretty disgusting, actually.”
The suspension will cost Paul $491,782, Rondo $186,207 and Ingram $200,428 in salary, a disparity attributable to Paul’s much richer contract. That led to D’Antoni’s argument that the penalties were unfair, given Paul’s role responding to Rondo’s initial action.
“He was straight up with us,” D’Antoni’ said. “He was apologetic. He apologized to the team. But in the heat of the moment, somebody does that, that’s tough. I mean, that’s really tough. I don’t know what they expect him to do. You talk monetarily, he’s paying three times more than other guys are paying for missing games? That doesn’t seem to be right.”
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NBA Announces Suspensions for Rockets vs Lakers Fight
