Some ill-advised gestures by the Miami Heat’s Gerald Green during Wednesday night’s preseason victory over the Washington Wizards resulted in the new arrival being assessed a $25,000 fine by the NBA on Friday.
The penalty was in response to reactions by Green during his torrid fourth quarter that helped the Heat charge back to a 110-105 victory. After he connected on a pair of three-pointers, each of the baskets saw Green attempting to imitate shooting off a gun and then punctuating it with a throat-slashing gesture.
CJ Fogler of The Cauldron offered a tweet that captured Green’s actions during the contest:
https://twitter.com/cjzero/status/657021530753388544/photo/1
Miami head coach Erik Spoelstra made a brief comment about the fine, according to a tweet from Ira Winderman of The Sun Sentinel:
Spoelstra on Green fine for gun and throat-slash gestures, "The league has a very clear stance on it."
— Ira Winderman (@IraHeatBeat) October 23, 2015
During that quarter, Green scored 11 of his game-high 28 points. The 29-year-old was signed as a free agent by the Heat last July.
The fact that the fine came in a game against the Wizards added an ironic twist to the entire scenario. That’s because prior to May 1997, the Wizards had been known as the Bullets. Then-owner Abe Pollin indicated at the time that the name change was in response to the increased level of gun violence in the Washington D.C. area.
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