Charlie Villanueva Fined $25,000 for Elbowing Isaiah Thomas in the Face (VIDEO)

Charlie V was ejected after delivering a nasty elbow to Isaiah Thomas’ grill last night in Detroit, and now the Pistons forward is $25K poorer for it. Thomas, quite understandably, was still angry about the incident following the game (which Detroit won over Sacramento 103-97.) Per the NBA and the Sac Bee: “Detroit Pistons forward Charlie Villanueva has been fined $25,000 for his Flagrant Foul Two on Sacramento Kings guard Isaiah Thomas.’ […] The Kings said it wasn’t the first hard foul by Villanueva. Thomas said the fact he was airborne on the play wasn’t the worst part for him. ‘No, it was just the fact that it was a dirty play and he’s a dirty player,’ Thomas said. ‘It is what it is. He got kicked out of the game, so it wasn’t nothing big. A lot of guys do stuff like that knowing you can’t really fight in this league, so it’s all right.’ The first player to react to the foul was center DeMarcus Cousins, who sprinted from the three-point line to protect his teammate. ‘I’m always going to be the first one to react,’ said Cousins, who pulled Thomas away from Villanueva. ‘I can’t really say what was going though my mind,’ Cousins said of the foul. ‘I’m just glad the situation was handled.’ […] Thomas appeared to take a swing at Villanueva but denied doing that. ‘I didn’t swing on him,’ he said. ‘That’s one thing I didn’t do. In the heat of the battle, in the heat of the moment, it is what it is.'”