New York (AFP) – Minnesota Timberwolves center Rudy Gobert has been suspended for one game after picking up another flagrant foul, the NBA announced on Saturday. The French star will miss Sunday’s game against the Philadelphia 76ers after being assessed a flagrant one foul in the second quarter against the Dallas Mavericks on Friday in a play in which Gobert hit Marvin Bagley III in the face with his forearm while battling for a rebound.
Gobert was initially assessed a common foul, but officials ruled it a flagrant after a review, saying he made an “unnecessary flail” with his arm. Gobert has already served a one-game suspension this season after accruing his sixth flagrant foul point in January. Under league rules, once a player has been suspended for accruing more than five flagrant foul points, he will be suspended for any further flagrant foul.
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Gobert had said after the game that he hoped the NBA would overturn the flagrant call on what he called “just an accident.” Gobert and Timberwolves coach Chris Finch both said they thought the big man was being officiated differently.
“Seemingly every time Rudy gets clocked in the head and the face, which is quite a bit, it’s always just, ‘Ah that’s just two guys, play on. It’s nothing,'” Finch said. “But yet the other way around, we seem to be penalized for it.”
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