WALTHAM, Mass. (AP) -Boston Celtics coach Doc Rivers remembers being in a couple of fights in his playing days, so he understands what was going through Kevin Garnett’s mind when he pushed off from a referee who was trying to make peace.

“Right afterward, I felt like a dunce,” Rivers said.

“At the time, though, there was nothing in me that didn’t feel like it was the right thing to do.”

The rough-and-tumble playoff series between the Celtics and Hawks returns to Boston for a fifth game on Wednesday night, with both teams getting good news from the league after practice on Tuesday.

NBA spokesman Tim Frank said there would be no fines or suspensions for a Game 4 altercation that resulted in double technicals to each side.

“The game’s emotional for everyone,” Rivers said after the team’s workout but before the league’s decision was announced.

“It’s easy to say, ‘Just step away.’ We, as a team, have to stop putting the league in a position where they have to make a decision. That’s on us; that’s not on the league.”

The incident in the second quarter of Atlanta’s 97-92 victory on Monday night began when Garnett cleared out Zaza Pachulia with an elbow, and the Hawks forward went forehead-to-forehead with the Celtics star. Referee Ed Rush grabbed Garnett, but he, too, got a push as Garnett struggled to break free. “The referee grabbed me,” Garnett said.

“In the heat of the battle like that, you never know what’s going on,” said Hawks forward Marvin Williams, who also escaped discipline.

“You never know who’s grabbing you. I’m sure he had no intention of hurting anybody. He just plays hard. It got pretty emotional out there.”

Williams and Celtics center Kendrick Perkins both admitted stepping onto the floor to see what was happening – a no-no in the NBA, especially with commissioner David Stern in the crowd.

But they were not punished under the rule designed to keep incidents from escalating into bench-clearing brawls.

“Technically, I broke the rule,” Williams said.

“But I had no intentions of doing anything on the court. I was just trying to see what was going on.”

Said Perkins: “I didn’t realize it until I watched the tape.”