Two Los Angeles Lakers guards, Marcus Smart and Luke Kennard, received fines for their behavior towards the referees following the Lakers’ 115-96 Game 4 loss to the Houston Rockets on Sunday.
Smart received a $35,000 fine for “questioning the integrity of game officials.” Meanwhile, Kennard’s $25,000 fine is for “directing inappropriate language toward game officials”, according to an announcement from James Jones, the Executive Vice President and Head of Basketball Operations.
Lakers center DeAndre Ayton, Lakers forward Adou Thiero and Rockets guard Aaron Holiday were ejected from Game 4. Five players across the two teams also received technical fouls during the game.
Both Smart and Kennard will be eligible to play in Game 5 against the Rockets on Wednesday at Crypto.com Arena. The Lakers lead the first-round series 3-1 and need to win one more game to advance to the Western Conference semifinals.
Although Los Angeles holds a two-game lead, Houston still has a chance to come back and win the series.
Last season, the Golden State Warriors held a 3-1 series lead over the Rockets going into Game 4 of the first round matchup. The Rockets went on to win Game 5 and Game 6 to force a Game 7 before ultimately losing to the Warriors in the series finale.
“It’s not gonna get easier,” Smart said of the Rockets, per the Orange County Register. “We understand that, but we’ve played this team, we’ve played four games now. The first three, you know, we did very well, so we understand we’re going to continue to stay poised.”
The winner of the series between the Lakers and Rockets will go on to face No. 1 seed and defending NBA champion, the Oklahoma City Thunder.
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