Raptors' DeMar DeRozan fined for flagrant foul against Nets
The NBA has fined Raptors guard DeMar DeRozan $15,000 for a flagrant foul on Nets forward Bojan Bogdanovic that got him ejected from Brooklyn's 109-93 road win on Wednesday.
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With a little more than a minute remaining and Brooklyn leading by 15, Deron Williams grabbed a defensive rebound and sparked a fast-break opportunity by passing ahead to Bogdanovic. As Bogdanovic entered the paint, DeRozan eschewed traditional transition defense, opting instead to drive through the Nets' forward with his left shoulder, knocking Bogdanovic to the ground with a body-check.
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The officials assessed a flagrant foul 2, a designation that applies to contact that is deemed unnecessary and excessive and which requires an automatic ejection. DeRozan departed with 13 points, six assists and five rebounds.
Afterwards, DeRozan did himself no favors with the league office by suggesting that the blow was intentionally delivered.
“[The Nets] had got it going and they were rumbling like they were the number one team in the East," DeRozan said, according to the Toronto Star. "I just wasn’t going to let them get anything easy.”
The two Atlantic Division rivals have exchanged some hostility after facing each other in the first round of the 2014 playoffs.
DeRozan, 25, is on the books for $10.1 million this season.
