If the Golden State Warriors stage a comeback and win the NBA Finals, co-owner Mark Stevens won't be there to see it. The Silicon Valley billionaire has been banned from NBA games and team events for a year and fined $500,000 for shoving Toronto Raptors guard Kyle Lowry during the fourth quarter of the Warriors' 123-109 loss in Game 3 Wednesday night, USA Today reports. Video of the incident shows Stevens reaching over and shoving Lowry after the player dove into courtside seats while trying to prevent the ball from going out of bounds. Stevens, a member of the team's six-person executive board, was ejected from the game. Lowry, who was visibly angry after the incident, says Stevens also swore at him. NBA spokesman Mike Bass said Stevens' conduct was "beyond unacceptable."
"There's no place for that. He had no reason to touch me," Lowry said. "He had no reason to reach over two seats and then say some vulgar language to me. There's no place for people like that in our league, and hopefully he never comes back to an NBA game." In a statement, the Warriors said: "We're extremely disappointed in his actions and, along with Mr. Stevens, offer our sincere apology to Kyle Lowry and the Toronto Raptors organization for this unfortunate misconduct." Stevens said he accepted the punishment, the AP reports. "I made a mistake and I'm truly sorry," he said. The Raptors have a 2-1 series lead ahead of Friday's Game 4. Lowry says it has been a fun, competitive series, and it "sucks that this has to take the front page." (More Golden State Warriors stories.)
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