David Vanterpool, Nets Fined for Assistant's Interference with Live Play vs. Wizards
The NBA has fined Brooklyn Nets assistant coach David Vanterpool $10,000 after he deflected a Washington Wizards pass during the fourth quarter of Wednesday's 119-118 Nets win.
The Nets have also been fined $25,000 by the league.
Here's the play in question:
Wizards forward Kyle Kuzma had a few thoughts on the situation after the game.
"That was also horses--t too. Coaches should not be able to stand up," he told reporters. "I mean I get it, if it's under two minutes, everybody in the league stands up. But there was like 3:50 on the clock [it was 5:42], you're standing up. You've got Steve Nash blocking the ref's view. He can't see s--t. ... It's very unfortunate, but you've just got to live with it."
Wizards acting head coach Joseph Blair was just as surprised.
"You asked me if he may have touched it. There's no 'may have'—he did," he told reporters. "My reaction was utter disbelief. I've never seen, in my very long time in basketball, something happen like that that the referees didn't see."
Crew chief Ben Taylor said in the pool report after the game that officials missed Vanterpool's deflection on the floor and there "wasn't a mechanism in place" to review the play.
It was a key moment in what was ultimately a one-point win for the Nets, so the Wizards rightly felt aggrieved by the missed call. It certainly wasn't a cheap deflection for either Vanterpool or the Nets organization, however.
