It was a frustrating day for the Los Angeles Lakers, not only because they couldn't complete their sweep over the Houston Rockets, but also because of the fines imposed on two of their players. In the game 4 of the first round playoff series, the Lakers slumped to the Rockets 115-96, to record their first defeat of the best-of-seven games series. However, apart from it, the seventeen time champion-team members Smart and Kennard would also have to pay heavy fines.

In Game 4, several Lakers players stood in a tense standoff with the referees after they ejected rookie Adou Thiero during garbage time. This led to Smart going off on referee James Williams, and was joined by Luke Kennard in the spat. The league reviewed the incident and imposed fines on both the players for their actions.

NBA punishes Marcus Smart and Luke Kennard, impose heavy fines on Lakers' stars

As per the punishment announced by the league, Smart was fined $35,000 for questioning the integrity of the officials, while Kennard was fined $25,000 for using inappropriate language. In an official statement, the NBA said, "Los Angeles Lakers guard Marcus Smart has been fined $35,000 for questioning the integrity of game officials, and Lakers guard Luke Kennard has been fined $25,000 for directing inappropriate language toward game officials, it was announced today by James Jones, Executive Vice President, Head of Basketball Operations."

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Notably, the team that has been missing the services of their star player, Luka Doncic, was led by Deandre Ayton’s 19 points on Sunday night. Rui Hachimura came up with 13 points, while four-time NBA MVP scored 10 points, as rest of the players finished with single-digit scores. Talking about Smart and Kennard, the former is averaging 7.5 points, 7.5 assists, and 3.5 steals in the series, while the latter has put on 17.8 points, 4.8 rebounds, and 3.3 assists through the series.