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On-court drink spill costs Brooklyn coach $50,000

Jason Kidd wants to move on from the court-spilling © AP

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Jason Kidd said he was just "trying to win" when he intentionally spilled a drink on the court, a stunt that cost him $50,000.

The Brooklyn Nets coach was fined on Thursday, with the NBA saying he intentionally spilled his drink as a stall tactic. Kidd tried to avoid talking about it Friday, but when pressed, he relented.

"Paul [Pierce] got a great look, but the league fined me for something that I probably shouldn't have done," Kidd said. "We'll move on."

Kidd bumped into Brooklyn reserve Tyshawn Taylor with 8.3 seconds left on Wednesday against the Los Angeles Lakers, causing his drink to spill. A video of the play showed Kidd seeming to ask Taylor to "hit me" as the guard walked toward the bench.

The Nets had time to draw up a play while the floor was being cleaned after the spill but still lost 99-94. Kidd was asked whether he regretted the unusual move and why he decided to go with it.

"It's about trying to win and those guys in that locker room, and I tried to put those guys in a position to get a basket, a good look and we did," Kidd said.

Lakers coach Mike D'Antoni got a little hot under the collar when asked on Friday about the incident.

"I knew he was going to get caught," D'Antoni said. "You can't do that. That's crazy. He can't do that. It's cute for a lot of people, but you can't do that."

D'Antoni said he did not notice how the spill happened, but his players picked up on it immediately. Both Steve Blake and Xavier Henry hovered around the Nets' impromptu huddle to spy on the play being drawn up.

"I'm glad they did," D'Antoni said of Blake and Henry's bit of gamesmanship in response to Kidd's move. "They should have."

D'Antoni said "you can't do that" or "he can't do that" no less than seven times in the two minutes he discussed Kidd's decision, adding that it was "nuts" to try such a stunt.

"That's against the rules," D'Antoni said. "I don't think that's very savvy or cool. I love Jason to death, he's going to be a great coach, but no, you don't do that."

D'Antoni, the NBA's coach of the year in 2004-05 with the Phoenix Suns, admitted there are tricks a coach can use to try to affect the outcome of a game outside of simply drawing up plays, making substitutions, working the referees and calling timeouts, but he said Kidd crossed the boundary of fair game.

"You can catch somebody's eye on the baseline on foul shots and stuff, as long as you stay off the court and in the rules," D'Antoni said. "You can do those things, but you shouldn't get on the court. You shouldn't run into people on the court. You shouldn't drop things on the court, especially when they're not warranted [from an accident]. You can't do that."

Houston Rockets coach Kevin McHale offered a one word answer when he was asked for his opinion on the move before Friday's game against the Nets.

"Expensive," he said with a smile.

When Kidd was told of the comment, he, too, smiled.

"Yes, it was," he said and shook his head.

Kidd, who is in his first year as a coach, was suspended for the first two games of the season after pleading guilty in a drunken driving case. The Nets are off to a 4-11 start entering Friday's game.

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This article originally appeared on ESPN.com

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