NBA News NBA News, Match Reports and Updates
Tensions escalated at the buzzer on Tuesday night in Paycom Center, where Oklahoma City Thunder guard Lu Dort and New Orleans Pelicans guard Jeremiah Fears had to be separated immediately after the Thunder’s 104-95 win.
The NBA fined Dort and Fears $25,000 each, the league announced .Thursday.
Advertisement
“After time expired, Dort shoved Fears in the chest, and both players subsequently grabbed each other’s jerseys in an aggressive manner,” the league’s release reads.
Before that, though, Fears corralled an offensive rebound, and the 19-year-old rookie seemed to be angling toward a layup when he appeared to be fouled by Dort.
Fears then got in Dort’s face, at which point Dort shoved Fears.
That turned into Dort grabbing hold of Fears’ jersey, and Fears snatching Dort’s in retaliation. Quickly, both teams bled onto the court to break up the fight under the basket.
Fears had to be held back again and again and, ultimately, slowly guided off the court and escorted into the tunnel.
Advertisement
Pelicans president of basketball operations Joe Dumars was even on the floor helping herd last year’s No. 7 overall pick into the locker room.
Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault said postgame that things were heated earlier in the night, and that he expected more from the officiating crew to rein in those kinds of situations.
“I thought they lost control of the game in the final minutes,” he said, via The Oklahoman’s Justin Martinez. “I thought that altercation at the end started well before that with the [Saddiq Bey and Jaylin Williams] situation. I thought they could have managed that cleaner.
“And then the second thing is I think that’s a foul on Dort. And if it was, they should put a whistle on that play, regardless of the score and the time. Because if they do that, everybody stops playing, and you can legislate the situation as you normally would.”
There were no in-game penalties for the Dort-Fears altercation, but now they both have fines to pay.
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/nba/article/nba-fines-thunders-lu-dort-pelicans-jeremiah-fears-25000-each-following-end-of-game-altercation-192529055.html
Author : Andy Backstrom
Publish date : 2026-01-29 19:25:00
Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source.
