Point guard Ben Simmons of the Philadelphia 76ers has been fined $20,000 and assessed a flagrant 1 foul after elbowing Toronto Raptors guard Kyle Lowry in the groin during the first half of Game 3 of the Eastern Conference semifinals on Thursday night.
NBA executive vice president of basketball operations Kiki VanDeWeghe announced the discipline on Friday.
The incident occurred with 8:36 remaining in the first half. Lowry fell down along the baseline after boxing out Simmons, who threw an elbow that struck the Raptors guard down low, and he stayed on the floor appearing to be in pain.
Simmons headed back down the floor, and was not issued a foul on the play. He collected 10 points, seven rebounds and seven assists in 36 minutes as the 76ers cruised past the Raptors 116-95 to take a 2-1 series lead. Simmons is averaging 14.5 points, 7.0 rebounds and 6.6 assists per game this postseason.
Lowry, who wound up playing 38 minutes, finished with seven points, five rebounds and five assists, shooting 2 of 10 from the field.
After the game, Lowry told ESPN that he received an apology from Simmons at halftime.
“Said he didn’t mean to,” Lowry said. “Scott didn’t call it on the floor. It’s not like I’m going to dwell on it or bitch about it. It happened. It’s over now. We got our ass kicked after. It didn’t matter.”
—Field Level Media
