The NBA fined two Los Angeles Lakers players and one from the Milwaukee Bucks for an on-court scuffle that broke out during the Bucks' 107-103 win Friday night at the Staples Center.
Bucks center Greg Monroe has been fined $35,000 for shoving Lakers guard Nick Young above the shoulders, the league announced Sunday. Young was fined $25,000 for initiating the altercation by shoving guard Malcolm Brogdon. And Lakers guard D'Angelo Russell was fined $15,000 for entering the altercation and pushing Monroe.
The scuffle erupted in the third quarter when Young was fouled hard by Brogdon on a drive to the rim. Several other players joined in the scrum, which had to be broken up by the officials.
After the game, Lakers coach Luke Walton strongly criticized the officials and alleged that a Bucks employee involved in the on-court scuffle "put his hands" on one of the Lakers players.
An NBA spokesman said Walton will not be fined for his comments. The news was first reported by the Los Angeles Times.
"Don't touch my damn players," Walton said on Friday, "because if that's OK, I'm sure we can find a couple people here in L.A. that want that job working for the Lakers, too. That's not right."
Walton also criticized the officials for their decision to eject Russell.
"They told me that D'Angelo got kicked out for escalating the situation," Walton said. "But D'Angelo only responded after Monroe had grabbed Nick by the neck and threw him. If D'Angelo didn't push him, I would've been pissed off at D'Angelo. He did the right thing.
"So for the NBA to say that the two of them did the same thing and just canceled each other out is absolute crap to me because D'Angelo just shoved [Monroe] in the back; Monroe grabbed [Young] by the neck. I don't know if he was mad that [Ivica] Zubac was kicking his butt all night long out there. But you grab someone by the neck? That's not right. And then Monroe went and slapped Brandon in the face. So he did all that and he got the same penalty as when D'Angelo did it for shoving someone in the back that was a teammate. So that's crap to me."
The Lakers are 20-50 after losing to the Cleveland CavaliersSunday night at Staples Center.