Nuggets head coach David Adelman has been fined $35K by the NBA after he was ejected from Saturday’s loss to the Rockets, the league announced (Twitter link).
According to the statement by the NBA, Adelman was fined “for directing inappropriate language toward game officials and failing to leave the court in a timely manner following his ejection.”
This marked Adelman’s first career ejection as a head coach. The first-year coach was irate midway through the fourth quarter after he believed that star Nikola Jokic should have been rewarded a foul, and stormed the court, yelling and pointing at one of the game’s referees while cursing at him.
“It felt like a reaction to the game earlier in the week. That’s what it felt like to me,” Adelman said after the game, per Logan Struck of SI. “They had one foul with five minutes to go in the second quarter, and I just felt like both teams were playing extremely hard, physical… Honestly, I was confused. And so I was just looking for answers, and it turns out I had to leave.”
The Rockets and Nuggets both ended the game with 20 personal fouls.