Wildcats coach Trevor Gleeson fined for clash with Andrew Bogut

Perth Wildcats coach Trevor Gleeson has been fined $500 by the NBL for pushing Sydney Kings centre Andrew Bogut.

Andrew Bogut of the Kings walks away after being pushed by Perth Wildcats head coach Trevor Gleeson. Picture: Getty Images

Perth Wildcats coach Trevor Gleeson has been fined $500 by the NBL for pushing Sydney Kings centre Andrew Bogut in a heated exchange on Thursday night.

Gleeson pushed Bogut away twice as the former NBA star tried to eavesdrop on an impromptu Wildcats huddle in the dying stages of the Kings’ 77-72 win in Sydney.

Bogut grabbed Gleeson’s wrist during the incident, but was cleared by the NBL of any wrongdoing.

Because it wasn’t an official timeout, Bogut was allowed to stand near the Wildcats huddle.

The NBL deemed Gleeson breached the NBL code of conduct.

After the match, Gleeson cheerfully admitted trying to milk the incident.

“I tried to run a play and the big boofhead got in there and tried to listen,” Gleeson explained.

‘So I said ‘get out for a little bit’ and then he grabbed me, so I was trying to milk it and see If I could get something out of it.

“Boges is a good guy.”

Bogut downplayed the incident and dismissed the suggestion Gleeson should be suspended for pushing him away.

“No he shouldn’t. There was nothing in it. Let’s all take a deep breath and move on,” Bogut tweeted.

Even though the Kings ended the ladder-leading Wildcats’ seven-match winning streak, Gleeson still took some positives out of the game.

Guard Damian Martin, playing his first game since October 27 because of a calf injury, showed his trademark determination.

With star import Bryce Cotton’s injured thumb not improving enough for him to play, and Mitch Norton having limited time after getting injured on Boomers duty earlier in the week, Martin played over half the game.

He helped limit prolific Sydney guard Jerome Randle to a season-low eight points and was instrumental in the Wildcats’ second-half fightback.

“You’ve got to love Damo, don’t you,” Gleeson said.

“When it’s all said and done, he’s going to have a statue in probably every stadium in Perth.

“He’s going to go down as one of the best players ever from the NBL.”

Perth won the rebound count 44-29, Clint Steindl scored 16 off the bench and Boomers forward Nic Kay was prominent down the stretch, finishing with 17 points on seven from 11 field goal shooting.

Gleeson hasn’t yet ruled out Cotton returning for Sunday’s home clash with Cairns either.

“It’s just being comfortable with the ball in his hand and obviously it’s his shooting hand, so I don’t want him getting out there where he’s a bit timid with that,” Gleeson added.

It was Sydney’s sixth win from their last eight games, after they started their season with successive losses to Adelaide.

“In the ebbs and flows of a game and a season, I think we go through playing phenomenal basketball and then we have a drop off,” Bogut said.

‘”We need to get to a point where our drop off is still a medium consistent level of basketball.

“Right now sometimes we’re helter-skelter or awesome.

“We’ve got to find that niche where our worst is just average, but we’re getting there.

“The positive I had out of this is (that) our ceiling is far away compared to most of the teams in this league.

“We know what most teams in this league do, we’re still a fresh team as far as chemistry goes, we’re ten games in.

“But I don’t think we’re close to our ceiling and we’re looking forward to hitting that and hopefully it’s in (the playoffs) in February and March.”

AAP