Rodney Hood ejected, swipes phone out of fan’s hands; fine from NBA expected

Washington • Rodney Hood didn’t have a good night, and, he may have set himself up for a worse morning.

The fourth-year guard was ejected Wednesday night against the Wizards after two technical fouls for arguing with officials: One at halftime, and one with 2:21 left in the third quarter. After Tony Brothers sent him packing from the game, Hood stalked off — but before he left the court, he smacked the hand of a courtside fan who appeared to be filming him on his phone.

The phone fell to the arena floor, and set off some drama. The fan spoke with Capital One Center security and Jazz security officials for much of the fourth quarter, pressing for police action.

While police are unlikely to go after Hood for the interaction, the NBA will probably go after his wallet. Technical fouls are already $2000 each, and ejections cost $2000 apiece. Fines for crossing the lines with fans typically go higher: Kyrie Irving, DeMarcus Cousins and Austin Rivers have already been fined $25,000 each for using profanity in exchanges with fans.

Hood was not available for comment after the game.

Favors out (through injury)

Derrick Favors has been a subject of some trade intrigue this week, with The Tribune reporting that he’s been a potential asset in trade talks with the Chicago Bulls.

But the seventh-year big man has been dealing with an ankle sprain that was suffered late in Sunday’s game with the Miami Heat. A little slow-footed toward the end of the loss, Favors sat out Wednesday’s game — but he was with the team in Washington and was present in the locker room pregame.

Favors is enjoying a bit of a bounce-back this season after an injury-plagued 2016-17 season: He’s averaging 12.5 points and 6.8 rebounds on 55 percent shooting. He’s started every game he’s been healthy for, and he’s played both power forward and center for the also-injured Rudy Gobert for most of the season.

His absence meant a start for Ekpe Udoh, his third of the season. While Tony Bradley was called up from the G League’s Salt Lake City Stars after Favors was injured, coach Quin Snyder mostly played small lineups with Jonas Jerebko as a backup center in the first half Wednesday.

The juggling between Jerebko, Thabo Sefolosha and Joe Johnson has been the most fluid part of Utah’s rotation in the past few weeks. But Snyder said he doesn’t view it as contentious situation between those players.

“Our rotation has been variable, and probably will continue to be as long as we’re acclimating with injured players, like Derrick being out tonight,” he said. “We started platooning those guys in response to where our lineups were. … I don’t want to pit any of those guys [against each other], it’s not about who’s playing well on a given night.”

Wizards keep fire burning after last loss

Going into Wednesday’s game, Wizards coach Scott Brooks admitted he had considered showing his players a longer version of their 47-point loss to the Jazz last month.

But pregame, he said, he would keep it brief.

“I don’t think we need to,” he said. “They know. We all know we got our butts kicked. They know.”

How upset was Washington after that game? The next night after that 47-point loss on Dec. 4, the Wizards visited Portland, and Bradley Beal scored 51 points in a win.

Even more than a month later, the Wizards still talked about the game with some frustration, with John Wall (who didn’t play) saying it was one of the worst losses he had ever seen. While the Wizards said they had tried to move on quickly, it was clear they still harbored some hurt feelings about it.

“We definitely are fueled by that,” Otto Porter Jr. said. “You’re not just gonna forget a game like that where you get blown off the court. It’s just extra motivation.”