NBA fines Morris for grab, Butler and Heat for obscene gesture / Photo: Michael Reaves - GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/AFP/File
NBA fines Morris for grab, Butler and Heat for obscene gesture
Miami Heat forwards Jimmy Butler and Markieff Morris and the club itself were fined Thursday by the NBA for violations committed in a playoff series-clinching home victory Tuesday over Atlanta.
In both cases, the players involved were on the bench when they incurred the league's wrath. Morris was in uniform but didn't play while Butler was out with right knee inflammation.
Morris was fined $25,000 for interfering with game play while on the bench.
Butler was fined $15,000 for making a hip-thrusting obscene gesture and the team was fined the same amount for posting it on social media.
Morris grabbed and held Atlanta guard De'Andre Hunter out of bounds, preventing Hunter from reestablishing himself inbounds as he caught a pass from a teammate.
Morris received an unsportsmanlike technical foul for his grab, which came with 7:06 remaining in the third quarter.
Butler's incident came with 1:43 remaining in the second quarter.
Miami's 97-94 home playoff victory over the Hawks on Tuesday gave the Heat a 4-1 victory in their first-round series and a berth in the second round against either the Philadelphia 76ers or Toronto Raptors.
The Heat went 53-29 during the season to earn the top seed spot in the Eastern Conference playoffs and will have a home-court edge in the conference semi-final series, which opens at Miami on Monday.
Defending champion Milwaukee will face the Boston Celtics in the other Eastern Conference semi-final series.
Butler, 32, averaged 21.4 points, 5.9 rebounds and 5.5 assists a game in the regular season.
Morris, 32, helped the Los Angeles Lakers to the 2020 NBA crown. He averaged 7.6 points, 5.6 points and 1.6 assists a game this season.
L.Gastrell--MC-UK
