Higgins said in a release Friday that "after testing (Friday) morning, doctors concluded that a procedure was necessary to place two stents in his heart. He is resting comfortably and is expected to rejoin the team soon."

Associate head coach Patrick Ewing served as the acting head coach for Friday's game vs. New York.

Clifford joined the Bobcats this offseason after spending last year as an assistant coach with the Los Angeles Lakers.

The Bobcats are off to a 3-2 start.


BUTLER'S 'BIG COJONES' INSIGHT


It was a big moment for a Bucks team seeking to make up a huge deficit for the second straight game. Last Friday, Milwaukee’s Caron Butler knocked down a clutch 3-pointer with 3:54 to play against the Celtics, erasing a 22-point deficit to tie the game—which the Bucks would go on to win—at 93. 



Butler reached down and, desiring to show his satisfaction at making the shot, put on a sometimes-common display among NBA players—he mimicked a certain part of the male anatomy, a gesture known as, “big cojones,” pioneered by one of the game’s all-time most confident players, Sam Cassell.

The NBA considers this obscene and fined Butler $15,000 for it Wednesday. It fined Andray Blatche for the same gesture a few days earlier, and last year, fined guard Marco Belinelli for it during the playoffs.

The league calls it an, “obscene gesture.” That seems a bit extreme. 



“I think expression of emotion is a huge part of the game of basketball,” Butler told Sporting News on Friday. “If you hit a big shot, you silence a crowd, it is very emotional. I am 33 years old, I still want to share my emotion during a course of a game. So I want to say, ‘That was a big shot, that was gutsy.’ So I did the big cojones thing, and got fined. It is what it is. I wouldn’t take it back, because that is how I was feeling at the time. It is just expressing yourself. I just think the emotion, you should be able to express it in that moment.”



The NBA has done much to limit excessive expression by players during games—there has been a strong and admirable crusade against racist or homophobic language, and the throat-slit gesture comes with a stiff fine (Kevin Durant, whose gesture was described as, “menacing,” was hit for $25,000 last April). But there is nothing menacing about the cojones gesture, and it barely seems obscene.

That’s what bothered Butler about it. Players should celebrate gutsy shots, but there is no relatable way to express, “guts,” with hand gestures. (If one tried, the result would be either comical or disgusting.) 



“You’re not trying to be disrespectful,” Butler said. “I have the utmost respect for this game. At the same time, I don’t want to be hindered when it comes to expressing myself. You work hard all summer so you can make those shots, so at the biggest moments of the game, that is an accomplishment, make a big shot in a big moment. You don’t want to be robotic and run back to the bench.”



Though he doesn’t regret it, Butler will make an effort not to be forced to send more $15,000 checks to the league office.

“I have to pick another celebration, I guess,” he said.


CARTER HIT WITH SUSPENSION


Dallas Mavericks forward Vince Carter has been suspended one game without pay for throwing an elbow and making contact with the head of Oklahoma City Thunder rookie center Steven Adams.

Rod Thorn, President of NBA Basketball Operations, issued the suspension Friday.

Carter was assessed a Flagrant Foul 2 and ejected with 4:01 remaining in the third quarter of Dallas' 107-93 loss to the Thunder on Wednesday night.

Carter served his suspension Friday night when the Mavericks played the Minnesota Timberwolves.

Contributors: Sean Deveney and The Associated Press