Celtics guard Smart fined for obscene gesture toward fan
Marcus Smart's frustrated flip of his middle finger toward a fan has earned the Boston Celtics guard a $25,000 fine by the NBA.
NBA executive vice president of basketball operations Kiki VanDeWeghe announced the fine on Wednesday saying Smart was fined "for making an obscene gesture on the playing court".
The incident occurred with 6:07 left to play in the fourth quarter of the Celtics' 111-97 loss to the Chicago Bulls on Tuesday, which put Boston down 0-2 in their best-of-seven Eastern Conference first-round series.
Smart's gesture came after he missed a three-pointer with the Bulls up by 14 points in a game in which the Celtics, the top-seeded team in the Eastern Conference, were booed periodically by their home fans.
Celtics coach Brad Stevens called Smart's action "unacceptable".
"Obviously, I've been told of the gesture," Stevens said earlier Wednesday. "I saw a brief video clip of it but, from my clip, from the angle that I saw, I couldn't tell. But obviously if he made a gesture, it's unacceptable and that will be handled by the league."