Why was Sacramento Kings’ coach Mike Brown ejected from his team’s 124-123 win against the Toronto Raptors?
The Kings’ coach may have crossed the line, but his players got the message and turned what looked like a loss into a win.
Though his team managed to emerge victorious, it didn’t stop the Kings’ coach from absolutely losing it, after he took issue with a call against one of his players.
Kings’ Mike Brown fined $25K after ejection
According to an official statement from the NBA on Friday, Sacramento Kings head coach Mike Brown was fined $25,000 after what can only be called an aggressive confrontation, led to his ejection in a 124-123 win over the Toronto Raptors on Wednesday. The incident occurred late in the third quarter, when Kings star De’Aaron Fox received a technical for slamming the ball on the floor in frustration. Fox’s reaction followed a foul called against him for a foul on Fred VanVleet. At that point, it was clear that Brown who was already screaming at officials for the initial call, had seen enough. “Aggressively pursuing and directing profane language” were the words used by the league to describe what occurred after Brown walked onto the court and approached the referee. The coach was called for two technical fouls and ejected with 9:09 left on the clock.
The Kings rallied for their coach
To be clear, Brown’s actions were not professional to say the least, but the manner in which his team responded is worthy of credit. On the night, the aforementioned Fox put up 27 points to go with 10 assists, while Malik Monk 24 points. Both were key in what turned out to be a comeback victory which saw the Kings overturn the Raptors 16-point lead. Fittingly, the team hide the source of their motivation either. Speaking post game, Monk acknowledged the way in which Brown’s ejection had a direct effect on the team’s motivation.
“Do it for him,” Monk said. “[De’Aaron] Fox got fouled obviously and it wasn’t called and we were getting hacked the whole game and not getting any calls. “So, Mike just had to take one for the team and bring the energy up and we just fed off that.” Domantas Sabonis, who also contributed 21 points and an astonishing 20 rebounds echoed the same sentiment saying, “...Kinda got all of us hyped up and then we just had to do it for him.” Even assistant coach Jordi Fernandez, who was forced to take the reins following Brown’s expulsion agreed. “I think the fact that he fought so hard for his players and then the players responded,” Fernandez said post game. “I think it was an amazing win ... it feels good,” he added. “I think this is for coach, obviously fighting for all of us and then very happy for the players.”