LOS ANGELES, United States (AFP) — Oklahoma City Thunder star Russell Westbrook has been fined $10,000 and handed a retrospective technical foul after a clash with Utah’s Rudy Gobert, the NBA said Tuesday.
A statement from NBA basketball operations executive Kiki VanDeWeghe said Westbrook had been sanctioned after an incident in the fourth quarter of Monday’s stormy playoff duel.
The Jazz won the game, 113-96, to take a 3-1 lead in the best-of-seven series and leave Oklahoma City at the brink of elimination.
Westbrook was investigated after he appeared to enter the court from the substitutes bench illegally to confront Gobert after he clashed with Raymond Felton.
Westbrook later said he believed he had been cleared to go onto court, insisting he had “heard a horn” allowing him to come off the bench.
The NBA has strict rules regarding altercations, with any player joining a skirmish from the bench subject to a one-game suspension.
© Agence France-Presse