New York (AFP) - The Dallas Mavericks organization was fined $25,000 by the NBA on Friday for violating league rules regarding team bench decorum in a playoff loss Wednesday at Phoenix.
The league said that on multiple occasions, several Mavericks players and a member of the coaching staff stood away from the Dallas bench and were on court or encroaching upon the playing area while the game was ongoing.
The violations came during Phoenix's 129-109 victory over the Mavs, which gave the Suns a 2-0 lead in their best-of-seven Western Conference second round playoff series.
The Suns, who had the NBA's best regular season record to secure a home-court edge for every playoff series, lost to Milwaukee in last year's NBA Finals.
The winner of the Mavericks-Suns series will face either the Golden State Warriors or Memphis Grizzlies in the Western Conference final to decide a berth in next month's NBA Finals.
