NBA fines Taj Gibson $25,000, J.R. Smith $5,000

Chicago Bulls forward Taj Gibson has been fined $25,000 for his outburst at a referee, and New York Knicks guard J.R. Smith has been penalized $5,000 for flopping, the NBA announced Friday.

Gibson and Joakim Noah each received two technicals and were ejected from Game 2 of their playoff series against the Miami Heat, who went on to a 115-78 victory that evened the series.

Gibson did not leave the court in a timely manner, continuing to shout at referee Scott Foster as he was led off the court by teammates and staff with 10:13 left in the fourth quarter.

There were nine technicals called in the game, which happened to be the largest margin of victory in Heat playoff history as well as the biggest margin of defeat in Bulls postseason play. Game 3 is Friday night in Chicago.

Smith, the NBA’s sixth man of the year, has been in a scoring slump during the playoffs, making only 26.3% of his shots in the last five games. The league decided he flopped in an attempt to draw a call when fighting through a screen in Game 1 of the Knicks’ series against the Indiana Pacers.

Smith is the third player fined for flopping in the playoffs, along with the Pacers’ Jeff Pendergraph and the Oklahoma City Thunder’s Derek Fisher.

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