NEW YORK — Cleveland Cavaliers coach Kenny Atkinson was fined $50,000 by the NBA for “aggressively pursuing, berating, and making inadvertent contact with a game official” during a game on Friday night.
The NBA’s head of basketball operations James Jones made the announcement on Saturday.
The incident happened after Atkinson was called for his second technical foul and ejected from the game with 10:59 remaining in the fourth quarter of a 126-113 loss to the Phoenix Suns.
Atkinson appeared to be upset about a no-call on Suns guard Collin Gillespie, who was aggressively guarding Sam Merrill on the perimeter.
The loss snapped Cleveland’s five-game winning streak. The Cavaliers play again on Sunday against the Blazers.