The NBL has decided not to take any action over the ugly post-match confrontation between rival coaches, Wollongong's Eric Cooks and Gold Coast's Brendan Joyce, at WIN Entertainment Centre last Friday night.
Hawks coach Cooks stormed after the Blaze coach and words were exchanged after the visitors had notched an emotional one-point victory.
Joyce coached the Hawks for 12 years and won an NBL championship in 2001 with Cooks as his assistant.
NBL boss Chuck Harmison requested tape of the incident, but was left satisfied that the spat was nothing more than two passionate coaches letting off steam.
"A couple of words were said but there was nothing in there that would make us take any further action," Harmison said.
"One coach had won and the other had lost - obviously one is going to be happy and one will be upset, as you would expect."
Harmison also spoke to Cooks, Hawks captain Mat Campbell and WEC operations manager Milton O'Brien, who acted as peacemaker during the clash.
"From the video, Brendan came out, he shook hands, he found Cookie. He shakes Cookie's hand, says a couple of words, Cookie walks away.
"And then Brendan says a couple of words to Mat Campbell and then starts walking away, and Cookie tracks him down and then Milton (O'Brien) steps in between the two," he said.
O'Brien said yesterday he could see the situation unfolding and stepped in to stop it escalating.
"I could see that it was developing into what could be a nasty situation. I have known both those blokes for 10 years, from being at the venue, and certainly I didn't want it to escalate any further," O'Brien said.
"We didn't have any security in the nearby vicinity so I just stepped in ... I just said to Cookie, 'walk away Cookie, walk away', and that was basically it."
Last time Gold Coast played in Wollongong - on October 24, a Hawks win - a group of spectators were ejected after becoming involved in a slanging match with Joyce.
It is believed the angry outburst by Joyce is linked to allegedly racist comments made by one of the fans towards Gold Coast player Luke Whitehead.
No formal complaint was made about the round six incident but Joyce says he wasn't made aware of the alleged remarks until last week.
Harmison said he was happy with how that matter was handled on the night and unless further evidence came to light the matter was closed.
"I was at that game and I witnessed the fans getting ejected. We felt the matter was dealt with appropriately on the night, the fans were ejected and that was the end of it."
Joyce already has a suspension and fine hanging over his head from earlier in the season when he demanded a journalist leave a post-match press conference.
The ugly spat is the last thing the struggling NBL - or Blaze (2-13) - need after the recent controversy involving veteran guard Shane Heal.
Heal was accused of racially abusing a Sydney Spirit fan last week, a claim which has since been withdrawn.
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