Bulls G Hinrich fined for throwing mouthpiece

[ducks]

Bulls G Hinrich fined for throwing mouthpiece

April 23, 2007
NEW YORK (TICKER) -- Chicago Bulls guard Kirk Hinrich on Monday was fined $25,000 by the NBA for throwing his mouthpiece into the stands during Saturday's first-round playoff game against the Miami Heat.

The incident occurred with 11:01 remaining in the third quarter of the Bulls' 96-91 Game One victory over the Heat at the United Center in Chicago.

Hinrich averaged 16.6 points and 35 1/2 minutes per game in 80 games this season. He struggled on Saturday, scoring just two points in 19 minutes.

[AZLouis]

It's the equivalent to getting spit on if you're the "lucky" fan who was hit by the mouthpiece.

[resistanze]

If that mouthpiece hit me, I would've Posey'd him.

[jmard5]

Bad idea. If it had hit someone, that someone might take that as an opportunity to file a lawsuit at Hinrich citing damage or personal injury or something. :rolleyes

[Marklar MM]

If I got the mouthpiece, it would currently be on Ebay

[FromWayDowntown]

We can see what the NBA thinks of its fans, I guess. Last year, Haslem got a one game suspension for throwing his mouthpiece at an official, Joey Crawford. This year, Hinrich does the same thing, only throwing it into the crowd and that's a $25,000 fine. Obviously, Joey Crawford is more important than the fans.

. . . . that, or the league rethought what was a pretty severe punishment for Haslem's act.