Du Feng, the Guangdong Hongyuan forward, and Xinjiang's Charles Gaines, both having had apologized for their behavior, escaped from severe punishment for their tussle during Sunday's Chinese Basketball Association (CBA) playoff finals.
Du and Gaines were only "criticized" by the CBA and will not be suspended while the two clubs were each fined 50,000 yuan ($7,324).
Gaines, who said he didn't make a mistake in slapping Du after the incident, apologized to Du on Tuesday and said he was ready to face the punishment. According to CBA rules, Gaines could have been suspended for at least 2-5 games, which would have been a huge blow to Xinjiang, who is now down 0-2 in the best-of-seven series.
Du also made his apology on his blog Tuesday for head-butting Gaines on Xinjiang's last possession of the game after the two were jostling for a rebound.
"I'm so sorry for what happened," wrote Du, China's national team small forward. "I apologize to the fans for my irrational behavior. The match was nearly finished but Charles and I still tried to fight for a rebound and he used his elbow to stop me, which irritated me. I head-butted his forehead and he responded with what you saw."
Initial news reports as well as Guangdong's players and officials claimed Gaines punched Du but video and pictures show that the American Gaines, who is much bigger than the Chinese player, slapped Du with an open right hand.
After the slap, Du was on the court floor for some time and was then carried away by medical personnel and his teammates on a stretcher. There have been no substantiation to the claim that he was in a coma for about half an hour. A hospital doctor said there was no sign of hemorrhage or fracture after Du received a CT-scan.
The Xinjiang team doubts the severity of Du's injuries from the incident and said they think he pretended to be heavily injured.
