Nuggets coach David Adelman was fined $35,000 for using inappropriate language with the officials and failing to leave the court quickly after he was ejected from Denver’s game Saturday, the NBA announced.
Referee Tyler Ricks issued Adelman his second technical foul for arguing calls with 8:40 remaining in an eventual 115-101 loss to the Rockets. A second tech results in automatic ejection, but Adelman attempted to follow Ricks to the middle of the court to continue their confrontation until he was held back. A packed Ball Arena crowd applauded the first-year Nuggets coach as he walked to the locker room.
It was his first career ejection as an NBA head coach.
“Honestly, I was confused, and so I was just looking for answers. And I went out there to find them, and it turns out I had to leave,” Adelman joked after the loss. “Sometimes, confusion can lead to destructive things. You’ve gotta think things through yourself sometimes. You go to other people, and sometimes they just don’t want to hear you.”
Adelman’s fine closed the book on an expensive week for head coaches of top Western Conference teams. Houston’s Ime Udoka was fined $25,000 for insulting the refs during his postgame comments after a loss to the Nuggets on Monday. Then Minnesota’s Chris Finch was also issued a $35,000 bill this weekend, following his first-quarter ejection against Oklahoma City. The NBA explained Adelman’s fine in a news release with the same verbiage as Finch’s.
Adelman, 44, took over for Michael Malone as Denver’s interim coach three games before the playoffs last season then was promoted to the full-time job in May.
Nuggets players Nikola Jokic and Bruce Brown both said after the loss on Saturday that they appreciated Adelman for having their backs and being willing to take technical fouls.
“It was a tough night,” Brown said. “We didn’t get a lot of calls. So he was just trying to give us some energy, give us some life.”
Watson had ‘setback’ in practice
Despite the recent injury to his torso turning out to be “nothing major” in his own words, Peyton Watson had missed two consecutive games and remained questionable going into a Monday night matchup with the Utah Jazz.
Pain has been the only hold-up. Adelman says Watson suffered a setback when he went through practice with the team last Wednesday. The Nuggets have classified it as a right trunk injury.
“Nothing wrong with it structurally,” Watson said last week. “But it’s just something day by day, up to my tolerance of the pain.”
Watson had a “50-50” chance of playing Saturday against the Rockets a couple of hours before tip, according to Adelman, but the young wing was ultimately ruled out. If he had been able to suit up, he would have started and played his normal minutes.
Adelman used Bruce Brown as a starting two-guard for the first game without Watson, then tried Tim Hardaway Jr. in the lineup Saturday. Watson has been a replacement starter himself with Christian Braun out for the last month (ankle).
Strawther’s usage after return from injury
Julian Strawther, another Nugget whose season has been disrupted by an injury, was cleared to play early last week but only appeared in the first-half rotation for one of Denver’s three games.
The 23-year-old was inactive for 12 consecutive games with back pain. He logged six minutes in his return, a win over Orlando. He had gone 33 days without playing.
“The best thing to happen to Julian, I thought, was he scored right away and fell. I really mean that,” Adelman said. “Just to see where he’s at. It’s one thing for us, our coaches, to push him around and see where he’s at physically. He played some three-on-three, some four-on-four (in the practice gym). But to get out there and feel it and have a hand on his body, and (for) him to hit the ground and pop right up says a lot about where his back is.”
Strawther wasn’t part of Adelman’s rotation for either game against Houston, but he was part of a third unit that gave the Rockets a brief scare late in the fourth quarter on Saturday.
His role has taken a step back so far this season, his third in Denver. The Nuggets bolstered their shooting off the bench with Hardaway, leaving less room for Strawther in the second unit. He has played more than 10 minutes only three times.
“Going forward, I think it’s just him getting back to being comfortable with us. And then for him, and Jules has such a good attitude, is nightly, I’ll probably play different people at the end of that rotation,” Adelman said. “It could be Jalen (Pickett). It could be him. It could be Zeke (Nnaji). When we get healthy, it’ll be like that, too. … So far, he’s done such a good job of that.”
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