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Suspension likely for Lakers’ Nick Young, who for once isn’t talking

Lakers forward Nick Young celebrates after making a three-point shot against the Thunder in the third quarter. Young was later ejected for elbowing Thunder center Steven Adams.
(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
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Nick Young doesn’t know where he stands with the NBA. He’s probably suspended for a game even though nothing was announced Saturday.

He definitely knows where he stands with his coach.

“Yeah, I talked to him,” Byron Scott said.

How did that go?

“Ask him.”

But Young declined to talk to reporters Saturday.

“I gave him some words and told him if it happens again what would happen to him. So hopefully it’ll never happen again,” Scott said.

He did not look amused while talking about it.

Young was ejected early in the fourth quarter of Friday’s game after delivering a forearm to the throat of Oklahoma City center Steven Adams.

Young later called him a “sneaky, dirty player” and claimed Adams had trash-talked him during the Lakers’ 104-103 loss. This is nothing new for Adams, who has induced several players into ejections and suspensions over the last two seasons.

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“I wouldn’t say he’s a dirty player,” Scott said. “He’s just a clever player. He grabs and holds. He has a lot of little tricks and it seems to get a lot of guys very irritated.”

Oklahoma City’s other center, Kendrick Perkins, plays the same way, according to Scott.

“Both of those guys are very physical basketball players and they grab and hold and guys, I guess, get to the point where they get tired of it,” Scott said. “[Adams’] tactics worked beautifully last night because it got one of our main guys out of the game and he was playing very well for us so we needed him, especially in that fourth quarter.”

Scott played against the master of questionable play, former Detroit Pistons big man Bill Laimbeer. Any similarities there?

“No. Laimbeer was dirty,” Scott said. “This is a little bit different.”

This wasn’t the first time Young faced league discipline. He was suspended one game for striking Phoenix guard Goran Dragic in the head last season.

Young had been fouled hard by Suns center Alex Len while attempting a fastbreak layup in a mid-January game. He popped up quickly and shoved Len, a 7-foot-1 center. After getting pushed briefly by Marcus Morris, Young struck Dragic.

The league didn’t like it and neither did Young, who called out teammates afterward, saying he was fighting “one on five” and wondering why he had no backup.

That one-game absence cost Young about $10,000 in salary but a suspension this time would set him back $45,400 because he received a significant raise after re-signing with the Lakers last July.

Young is averaging 14.9 points, second-highest on the team. He would sit out Sunday’s game against the Sacramento Kings.

Four on five?

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Kings owner Vivek Ranadive reportedly pressed former coach Mike Malone to play “four-on-five” defense, essentially cherry-picking one player for easy baskets at the other end.

Malone was fired last week and replaced on an interim basis by assistant Tyrone Corbin.

The Lakers probably won’t see the four on five Sunday, but it was worth asking Scott about it.

“I hope they use that sometime,” he said. “I’ve seen a lot. That I have not seen in 30 years” of NBA experience.

It’s definitely a bizarre concept.

“I also heard that [Ranadive] wants them to run more and stop isolation [plays],” Scott said. “My only opinion is he should come down and coach them. Might as well.”

mike.bresnahan@latimes.com

Twitter: Mike_Bresnahan

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