Clippers' Matt Barnes Fined By NBA, Apologizes For Ejection, Profane Tweet

LOS ANGELES (AP/CBSLA) — Matt Barnes is apologizing to his Los Angeles Clippers teammates and coaches for getting ejected and then sending out a profane tweet.

Barnes, along with Oklahoma City's Serge Ibaka, got ejected and Blake Griffin of the Clippers received a technical foul for their parts in a scuffle with 6 seconds left in the second quarter of their game Wednesday night.

Barnes' actions ended up costing him $25,000 on Thursday when the NBA fined him for failing to leave the court in a timely manner and using inappropriate language on Twitter.

In Wednesday's game, Griffin was trying to put the ball up and his arms and Ibaka's became entangled. Barnes shoved Ibaka hard in the chest. Griffin kept trying to get at Ibaka as players from both teams formed a scrum.

After his ejection, Barnes used a derogatory term in a profane tweet that began "I love my teammates like family," but went on to suggest he was tired of backing them up because his actions "cost me money." The tweet was later deleted, but not before most of Twitter and his teammates learned of what it said.

Thursday morning, Barnes took to Twitter again to issue a lengthy apology.

"I was completely wrong for pushing Ibaka & then for what I tweeted following the altercation..I've been doing this for to (sic) long to let my emotions get the best of me.. My poor choice of words & timing do not reflect who or what I am about," a portion of Barnes' apology said.

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