Brooklyn Nets coach Jason Kidd was fined $50,000 for intentionally spilling his cup of soda on the court in the final seconds of Wednesday's loss to the Los Angeles Lakers, ESPN reports.
In between Lakers guard Jodie Meeks' free throws, video appears to show Kidd telling Nets guard Tyshawn Taylor to hit him. Taylor then bumped into Kidd, which appeared to knock the coach's cup of soda from his hand. The spill caused a game stoppage and essentially gave the Nets a free timeout to draw up a final play with 8.3 seconds left in regulation.
Brooklyn ended up losing to Los Angeles, 99-94.
After the game, Kidd denied intentionally spilling his drink.
"Cup slipped out of my hand while I was getting Ty," Kidd told reporters, via ESPN. "Sweaty palms. I was never good with the ball. In the heat of the battle, you're trying to get guys in and out of the game, and the cup fell out of my hand."
Taylor refuted the video replay that appeared to show Kidd telling him to "hit me."
"No [Kidd didn't say that]. I wasn't paying attention," said Taylor. "I just kind of bumped him. I didn't even know he was holding [anything]. [But] coach was drinking a soda on the sideline. I was like, 'What's he doing?'
"It could ice a free throw shooter and be a timeout when you don't have one, but that wasn't the thought process. I was just coming out, and he was in my way. 'Coach, get out of my way, bro.'"
As the announcer in the video clip points out, Kidd wouldn't be the first coach to spill a drink in order to stop the game.
Brooklyn fell to 4-11 with their loss on Wednesday.
