DENVER — Denver Nuggets forward Kenyon Martin said he would appeal the $25,000 fine the NBA gave him for his hard foul on Dallas' Dirk Nowitzki in Game 1 because "I just didn't feel that was fair."

"I don't understand it," Martin said. "I've watched a lot of playoff games ... I've seen things a lot worse that nobody got fined for. Just because I've got a history, maybe, in the past of playing hard or whatever."

Nuggets coach George Karl called the fine "way out of line and crazy."

"I saw some hits in Chicago-Boston, some hits in Atlanta-Miami," Karl said. "This is not on the top of the list from my observation."

No hard feelings

Despite the controversy surrounding Martin's Game 1 foul on Nowitzki and fine, Nowitzki said there aren't any hard feelings between the two. They shared a light moment near the end of Game 1 after Nowitzki tried multiple fakes on Martin and Martin jokingly asked what he was doing.

"We never had a problem," Nowitzki said. "We've competed at the same position for a long time and we've never had a problem about anything. We both always play hard and have some great battles."