NBA Doles Out Penalties for Miami Heat’s Caleb Martin and Toronto Raptors’ Christian Koloko After on Court Fight
The NBA doled out punishment to the Miami Heat’s Caleb Martin and the Toronto Raptors’ Christian Koloko after the two got into a fight during the October 22nd matchup between the Heat and the Raptors.
With a little less than 8 minutes to play in the third quarter and Miami up 81 to 59, Pascal Siakam attempted a three-point shot from the edge. He missed and the ball bounced off the rim.
Koloko grabbed the rebound, but was quickly tripped up by Martin and sent falling to the ground despite trying to maintain his balance. Martin was initially whistled for the foul.
However, as you can see below, Martin then threateningly stands over Koloko, who quickly gets back on his feet and puts his hands around Martin. Martin then proceeds to tackle and drive Koloko into the stands and eventually into the ground.
Numerous players and coaches from both the Heat and the Raptors then form a dog pile on top of them as well as members of the crowd. Security and officials are able to quickly get the players off the ground and break up the dog pile. Both players were ejected from the game
The Heat ended up winning the game 112-109.
Following the game, Koloko was dumbfounded as to why Martin tackled him. He said, “He just stood there looking at me like crazy. I just stood up. I don’t know.”
Raptors head coach Nick Nurse also stated, “It’s tough for [Koloko], the guy’s standing over him. I mean what’s — it’s not much of a penalty for what. We got the ball side out like we were supposed to. There was a foul called there.”
Martin shared his side of the story saying, “I just think that there’s a lot of plays leading up to it. It was a chippy game. That’s typically how the game goes with Toronto. It’s a chippy back and forth.”
“But ultimately I just think that emotions were high and the game was a close game. It was back and forth. Overall, I got to be more professional in the way I handle those type of situations,” he concluded.
Following the game, the NBA announced Martin would be suspended a single game and Koloko was fined $15,000.
Their statement read, “Miami Heat forward Caleb Martin has been suspended one game without pay for instigating an on-court altercation by taunting Toronto Raptors center Christian Koloko and then tackling him into the spectator stands, and Koloko has been fined $15,000 for grabbing Martin during the altercation, it was announced today by Joe Dumars, Executive Vice President, Head of Basketball Operations.”
“Heat forward Nikola Jovic has also been suspended one game without pay for leaving the bench area and entering the altercation. The incident, for which Martin and Koloko were each assessed one technical foul and ejected, began when players became entangled while battling for rebounding position. The incident occurred with 7:46 remaining in the the third quarter of the Heat’s 112-109 win over the Raptors at FTX Arena on Oct. 22,” the statement continued.
It concluded, “Martin and Jovic will serve their suspensions on Monday, Oct. 24 when the Heat again host the Raptors at FTX Arena.”
What do you make of the punishment for Koloko and Martin? What about the suspension for Jovic?
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