ORLANDO, Fla. — Rajon Rondo will have a little more time to cool off following Wednesday’s brawl against the Nets.
The Celtics point guard was suspended for two games by the NBA Thursday for his role in sparking the incident with 29.5 seconds left in the second quarter after the Nets’ Kris Humphries fouled Kevin Garnett. Rondo went after Humprhies, which led to both of them and the Nets’ Gerald Wallace getting ejected.
No other players were suspended, although Wallace was fined $35,000 and Garnett was fined $25,000. Humphries didn’t receive any additional penalties.
Nets general manager Billy King said he had a long conversation with Stu Jackson, the NBA executive vice president of basketball operations, about his decisions in the matter.
“We’ll agree to disagree,” King said on a conference call with reporters. “Stu has a tough job at the league and they make decisions that, from the team standpoint, you don’t agree with them. But they have to make tough decisions and so … I don’t want to share my conversation with him because I don’t think that’s fair. His job is tough. They make decisions, but I’ll agree to disagree with him.”
The Celtics had no problem sharing their opinions about Humphries.
Jason Terry told reporters after Wednesday’s game that the Nets power forward, with whom Terry played in Dallas, is a “pretend tough guy.” Garnett took the criticism a step further during a radio interview on WEEI radio’s “Mut & Merloni” show yesterday.
“Dude’s always been known to be out of control,” Garnett said. “He’s always tried to play the tough guy or whatever role you want to do it. It was a little extra, but it comes with the territory and it comes with the game. … I guess they’re just trying to hold up to the whole Brooklyn mentality.”
When told of the criticism, King quickly dismissed it.
“I think that guys play, guys say things,” King said. “I know our guys played their butts off [Wednesday] night, played very physical.
“Kris is doing a great job for us, so I really could care less what the Celtics say about Kris. I just know what he does for us.”
* In addition to getting hit with a fine for his part in Wednesday’s extracurricular activities, Wallace was warned by the league office for violating the new anti-flopping rules. Wallace was deemed to have exaggerated contact on an offensive foul from Carmelo Anthony with 16.9 seconds left in overtime in Monday’s 96-89 win over the Knicks.
The Nets are now the only team in the league to have two players warned for flopping, and also are the only team to have been caught multiple times and fined. Reggie Evans was fined $5,000 after the league warned him for a flop against the Celtics on Nov. 15 and he committed another against the Lakers in Los Angeles on Nov. 20.