The NBA announced the punishments for the Cleveland Cavaliers and Boston Celtics getting into it on the court Saturday night in Cleveland, and the repercussions won’t go past monetary fines for one player on each side.
J.R. Smith and Boston’s Aron Baynes got tied up in the paint early into Saturday’s preseason matchup and sparked a fight between Smith and Marcus Smart, with other players tangentially involved. The battle got Smart ejected and added to the latest chapter in the Celtics just generally not liking Smith very much.
On Monday, the NBA fined both Smith and Smart for the battle, though Smart did get a heavier fine for the incident.
https://twitter.com/ShamsCharania/status/1049335622513713152
Fines are not the biggest deal in the world for wealthy basketball players, but it does set up what could be an interesting regular season between two teams that do not share a lot of love for one another.
After the game Smith and Smart had different things to say about the incident and where exactly they should continue their fight. It could be idle banter but it truly does seem like the two don’t like each other. Smith has a history with Boston of what’s been described as dirty play. And Boston has a lot to prove now that they think they should own the East. There’s no love lost between these two teams, and it only portends to lead to some tough — and chippy — regular season games between last year’s Eastern Conference Finals representatives.
