Sacramento Kings head coach Mike Brown was fined $25,000 after an explosive ejection in a 124-123 win over the Toronto Raptors on Wednesday, the NBA announced Friday.
Late in the third quarter, star guard De’Aaron Fox received a technical for slamming the ball on the floor in frustration after being called for a foul against Fred VanVleet.
Brown was seen screaming at officials from the sideline with the initial call, but made his way to the court when Fox was hit with the technical.
According to the NBA, Brown was “aggressively pursuing and directing profane language” toward an official.
He was issued two technical fouls and ejected with 9:09 remaining in the third quarter.
‘Do it for him’
Fox had 27 points and 10 assists, closely trailed by Malik Monk who put up 24 points in the victory where the Kings made up a 16-point second-quarter deficit.
After the win, Monk explained how Brown’s ejection motivated the team.
“Do it for him,” Monk said on NBC’s postgame show. “[De’Aaron] Fox got fouled obviously and it wasn’t called and we were getting hacked the whole game and not getting any calls.
“So Mike just had to take one for the team and bring the energy up and we just fed off that.”
Domantas Sabonis added 21 points and 20 rebounds and said that Brown’s ejection “Kinda got all of us hyped up and then we just had to do it for him,” echoing Monk’s sentiments when he spoke to reporters postgame.
Assistant coach Jodi Fernandez took the lead in Brown’s absence and also had high praise for the coach.
“I think the fact that he fought so hard for his players and then the players responded,” Fernandez said after the game.
“I think it was an amazing win … it feels good,” he added. “I think this is for coach, obviously fighting for all of us and then very happy for the players.”
