Willis, Kemp Fined for Incident

Houston Rocket forward Kevin Willis was fined $10,000 and Seattle SuperSonic forward Shawn Kemp received a $5,000 fine from the NBA for their third-quarter scuffle in Thursday’s Game 6 of the Western Conference semifinals.

The incident occurred with seconds remaining in the quarter when Willis had the ball and his elbow caught Kemp in the mouth. Kemp responded with a slap to the back of Willis’ head. Willis received a technical foul on the play.

“I totally disagree with it,” Rocket Coach Rudy Tomjanovich said. “I don’t think they judged what was happening on the floor.

“He [Willis] made a natural basketball move that hit Shawn Kemp, who out of the realm of basketball makes a retaliatory move, and they [league officials] say the basketball move is worse than the retaliation.”

Kemp had little comment, saying, “I’m not worried about it and I don’t want to talk about it.”

Willis was more vocal after speaking with NBA Vice President Rod Thorn, who handed out the fines.

“He said the tape showed an elbow and I told him if you’d seen the whole tape you’d see the guy hit me but I’m not crying about it, I’ll just go play,” Willis said.

The Rockets and SuperSonics play Game 7 today at Houston.

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Portland Trail Blazer assistant Dick Harter won’t return next season under new Coach Mike Dunleavy, the team announced. Harter, the Charlotte Hornets’ first coach, joined the Portland staff in 1994 after working three years under Pat Riley with the New York Knicks.