NBA finds no evidence Kings’ Doug Christie attempted to forfeit Warriors game after Draymond Green’s comments
The NBA released a statement Tuesday saying Sacramento Kings coach Doug Christie made no intentional effort to foul Golden State or cause the Kings to lose the Warriors game on Tuesday.
In Tuesday’s 110-105 loss to the Warriors, Christie motioned for Doug McDermott to intentionally foul Seth Curry, who didn’t have the ball, with 3:15 left in the fourth quarter. The Kings were leading by one point at the time of the foul. Curry is shooting 90% from the free throw line this season and has shot 86.4% from the line this year. Curry went 1-2 from the foul line after the Kings foul.
Announcement
Christie reportedly attempted to use the strategy of fouling and using a timeout before he was taken away under the three minute mark and did not realize the Kings were on a penalty.
After the game, the Warriors’ Draymond Green wondered why teams don’t get fined for intentionally tanking.
“Tonight I saw a team foul Seth Curry with three minutes left for no reason on the penalty kill,” Green said. “I get fined when I make mistakes. Stop fining people. We love taking money from players. Keep fining teams… If it were the players they would have snatched that money in a heartbeat. Why isn’t it the same thing? We know exactly what to do when someone gets a technical foul. Suspension for one game. We know exactly what to do. All of a sudden we have teams with problems and we don’t know what to do.”
NBA Commissioner Adam Silver stressed that the league will make future changes this offseason to avoid tanking.
After starting the year 12-46 and setting a franchise record in February with 16 straight losses, the Kings went 9-13 despite being without most of the team’s best players. The Kings are 21-59 and 14th in the Western Conference.