A late-game punch just cost Marcus Smart three games. The NBA suspended the Houston Rockets guard without pay on Thursday after swinging at, then grazing, Golden State Warriors center Charles Bassey.
Doing the exact opposite of his last name, the 32-year-old former Defensive Player of the Year melted down in the third quarter of Houston’s 115-108 win.
Smart and Bassey got tied up fighting for position under the glass, barked at each other trailing the play, and Smart uncorked a right hook that grazed Bassey’s nose. Teammates, coaches, and officials quickly stepped between them.
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Smart did not wait for the replay review to finish before walking toward the locker room. Referees assessed him a Flagrant 2 foul and the 13th ejection of his career, ending his night with six points, two rebounds, and one assist in 17 minutes. He will sit out Friday’s home matchup against the Utah Jazz, Sunday’s road game in Washington and Monday’s trip to Miami before becoming eligible to return Nov. 18 against the Indiana Pacers.
After the game, Rockets head coach Ime Udoka relayed Smart’s excuse for throwing hands.
According to Udoka, Smart claimed Bassey wrapped up Smart’s previously injured elbow during the tangle.
When Smart confronted him about it, Bassey allegedly replied, “What you gonna do?”
“And he did it,” Udoka told reporters.
Bassey, who finished with seven points and six rebounds in 13 minutes, was unimpressed by the swing and unloaded on Smart in the locker room.
Bassey accused Smart of playing dirty all night, alleging the guard grabbed his knee while Bassey tried to set a screen in the first half. Bassey admitted he baited Smart into reacting and dismissed the punch as an excuse to clock out early.
“I knew he was gonna do something,” he said. “I baited for him to do something, because I knew he was going to do something. I don’t think he was trying to play. I think he was trying to get himself out of the game. He wasn’t trying to play … I think he was trying to chill. He wasn’t trying to hoop, bro.”
The ban marks the third NBA suspension of Smart’s 13-year career, following one-game league bans for hitting Matt Bonner in 2015 and threatening an official in 2021, plus more than a dozen fines that include a $50,000 penalty for shoving Joel Embiid in 2019.
Houston still closed out the seven-point win, but Smart’s thin skin will cost him three games and six figures.
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