SALT LAKE CITY — The NBA will not fine Bucks assistant coach Darvin Ham for his “actions’’ during the fracas between Milwaukee’s Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Knicks’ Enes Kanter on Thursday night, according to a league source.
The NBA reviewed the incident involving Antetokounmpo and Kanter, during which Ham ran onto the court and bumped into the Knicks center from behind. The NBA source said Ham “acted as a peacemaker to separate the players. We determined that no further action is needed for any party.”
Even before the decision, Knicks coach David Fizdale wasn’t lobbying to see a fellow coach fined or suspended.
Fizdale didn’t defend Ham for racing onto the court, but said things happen. Kanter was nose-to-nose with an angry Antetokounmpo and Ham clearly was trying to save the “Greek Freak’’ from bodily harm. Fizdale wasn’t calling for Ham to be punished — although Kanter prominently did Friday.
Fizdale is extremely popular among the coaching fraternity and probably knows NBA assistant coaches’ salaries aren’t whopping.
“When it’s chaos and especially if guys are going, what’s the ruling on that?’’ Fizdale said. “You’re just trying to separate people and get them out of the way. I just know when it gets heated it gets heated. I’m just glad it ended the way it ended, everybody walked away without it turning into more than it should have. But it’s good. Teams are competing.”
Kristaps Porzingis, who was watching the game on television from his Manhattan apartment publicly expressed his disdain for Ham, ripping him on Instagram and calling it a “BS’’ maneuver. He also connected on FaceTime with Kanter after the center was ejected.Fizdale, on the other hand, liked the old-school physicality — all of it.
“I think people make too big of a deal about this stuff now,’’ Fizdale said. “When I was a young assistant in the league, that was the norm — melees. I don’t think it’s that big a deal. It’s two teams competing their butts off. It got a little heated. It went no further. I like the fact that it felt like it had a little atmosphere to it, especially for our young guys, to experience that atmosphere a little bit. See guys getting tussled. I thought it was a good thing for us.”
Fizdale was told new starting center Luke Kornet is planning to shove a bunch of envelopes into his office in response to the coach’s recent wisecrack, in which he said Kornet “couldn’t jump over an envelope.’’
“That’s about right,’’ Fizdale said. “We joke all the time. What I like about him is he’s a guy who is always even. He can laugh at himself and crack his own little jokes.’’The undrafted Kornet faced a big task Saturday against the Jazz’s shotblocking machine, Rudy Gobert.
“Very interesting matchup and real good for Luke to go against a guy like this,’’ Fizdale said. “An established center who you got to keep off the rim and a guy you got to keep up with in pace.’’
Saturday marked the Knicks’ last game of 2018. They pick up on Jan. 1 at Denver during their two-week, six-game journey.