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Andre Drummond fined $15K for elbowing Roy Hibbert in the head

Dan Devine
Senior NBA writer

Andre Drummond gave a laugh and a round of applause to the refs who ejected him for elbowing Roy Hibbert in the back of the head on Tuesday night. Here’s hoping he’s got a chuckle and a clap for Kiki VanDeWeghe and the disciplinarians in the league office, too:

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With just over four minutes remaining in the first half of a nip-and-tuck battle between Drummond’s Detroit Pistons and the Charlotte Hornets, the team Hibbert joined on a one-year deal this summer, the two big men were battling under the basket as Hornets star Kemba Walker lofted a 3-pointer. As the shot dropped through the nylon, Drummond took exception to Hibbert’s attempt to spin around him into rebounding position, and whistled an elbow at the back of Hibbert’s head.

After a video review, the officials determined that the contact was unnecessary, excessive and merited a flagrant foul-2, triggering an immediate ejection that Drummond found laughable:

Unfortunately for Hibbert’s squad, the Pistons didn’t miss a beat without their All-Star center. Detroit steamrolled to a 112-89 victory behind a big night from forward Tobias Harris (24 points on 9-for-12 shooting, seven rebounds, two assists, two blocks) and 18 points apiece from Marcus Morris and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope.

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After the game, Drummond remained in disbelief about the call that ended his night early.

“Look man, I don’t make the rules,” he said, according to Vince Ellis of the Detroit Free Press. “I just play the game. They felt like I did something maliciously. Everybody who knows me, knows that the way I play, that’s not the type of player that I am, but at the end of the day, it wasn’t my call. I just took the consequences and walked off the floor.”

Drummond also insinuated that Hibbert might have embellished the play just a tad.

“Look man, like I said, anybody that knows me knows I’m not a dirty player,” he said, according to Aaron McMann of MLive.com. “It’s part of the game. He got hit, he did whatever he had to do to get the call. The refs made the call and I was escorted off the floor.”

Evidently, the league office didn’t agree with Drummond’s version of events, and as a result, he’s going to be making a $15,000 contribution to the charities with which the NBA works. Look on the bright side, Dre: at least you’re going to be helping some people out this holiday season! Go ahead and give yourself a hand.

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Dan Devine is an editor for Ball Don’t Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at devine@yahoo-inc.com or follow him on Twitter!

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