“I thought we played great. It’s tough, the adversity of playing against the extra three. I thought they were awful but, the defending champs, we’ve got to play better... So many times I got hit on layups, 3-pointers. It was constant. Jump shots, getting hit, smacked on the forearm. It was a poor job.”
Those comments from Paul George after the Clippers lost to the Nuggets on Tuesday will cost him $35,000, the league announced on Thursday.
More interesting was this sentence from the league’s press release announcing the fine on why George has to pay more than the usual $25,000 for criticizing the referees:
“The fine amount is based in part on George’s history of public criticism of the officiating.”
That means the league treated these comments the same way did the latest Draymond Green suspension, saying history matters (and George has never been shy when it comes to criticizing the officials).
George scored 35 points and had seven rebounds against the Nuggets, but the Clippers remained winless in the James Harden era, falling 111-108 when George’s attempt to send the game to overtime became a wedgie.
