It was just a matter of time but the NBA has finally decided on punishments for the fight that broke out between the Toronto Raptors and Los Angeles Lakers on Tuesday. The fight started after Dennis Schroder fouled OG Anunoby while he was driving. Anunoby wasn’t happy and lifted Schroder off the ground, causing him to hit the court. What followed was a fight between the two teams, leading to Anunoby and Montrezl Harrell getting ejected.
Though Talen Horton Tucker , DeAndre Bembry and Fred Van Vleet were not ejected during the game, each of them will be suspended for one game without pay, the NBA announced.
NBA has suspended Talen Horton-Tucker for one game while also fining Montrezl Harrell $20k for their roles in the altercation during the Lakers vs. Raptors game: pic.twitter.com/A7uJsXEdhe
— Ryan Ward (@RyanWardLA) April 8, 2021
Horton-Tucker wasn’t actually involved in the fight but did leave the sideline to come onto the court. The NBA is very strict when it comes to that and he will miss Thursday’s game against the Miami Heat. This is the first time Horton-Tucker has been suspended. Harrell won’t miss anytime but he will have to pay a $20,000 fine for shoving Raptors players.
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Schroder Praised Harrell for Having His Back
The Lakers have a tight-knit group so when one teammate has an issue, the whole team is going to have an issue. Harrell is one of the most passionate guys on the team and he wasn’t going to stand idly by while Anunoby threw his teammate. Schroder appreciated Harrell defending him.
“With Trezz, I would do the same thing for everyone in this locker room,” Schroder said after the game, via Lakers Nation . “We’re all brothers, family. After it happened and he got ejected, I went into the locker room during the game and I told him that I appreciate him and I would do the same thing for him. I’m really thankful for that one.”
While fights on the court are never ideal, they can certainly help build camaraderie with a team. Schroder and Harrell are probably closer now than they were before the fight.
Harrell Doesn’t Think He Should’ve Been Ejected
Though Harrell did get physically involved when he started shoving players, he thought that he shouldn’t have been kicked out of the game.
“My teammate committed a foul,” Harrell said after the game. “He held the guy up so he didn’t hurt himself and the guy reacted by sweeping his leg from up under him … That’s uncalled for and I went over there to defend my teammate just like I would do any other time.
“That’s not the way you do things … It’s wrong. I don’t really think I did anything wrong to be ejected, but it is what it is.”
While Harrell may not have done anything wrong on a moral level, the NBA doesn’t want big fights getting instigated on live TV. The second he put his hands on a Raptors player, he put himself at risk of getting kicked out. The fine is a little hefty considering what he did but he had to see it coming.
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