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Denver Nuggets superstar Nikola Jokic was ejected from his team’s 114-106 win over the Chicago Bulls on Tuesday after receiving a technical foul for directing “profane language” at an official. While the use of one of the magic words toward an NBA referee is an offense that absolutely deserves a tech, it usually takes two technical fouls to earn an ejection. In the Jokic case, he got the boot after just one such infraction, and after the game crew chief Mark Lindsay had a bizarre — and repetitive — answer as to why.
After the game, the pool reporter asked Mark Lindsay why Nikola Jokic got ejected, per Cody Westerlund, editor at 670TheScore.com.
“To be clear, Jokic was ejected after one technical foul because he directed profane language at the official that by our standards warranted an ejection.”
Fair enough. But how bad was what he said? And isn’t it unusual to toss a player after just one tech? These are the questions the reporter followed up with to clarify the situation, to which Lindsay responded repeatedly, “To be clear, Jokic was ejected after one technical foul.”
Here’s the pool report on Nikola Jokic’s ejection. He was ejected for “profane language,” according to crew chief Mark Lindsay. pic.twitter.com/AajewopSnQ
— Cody Westerlund (@CodyWesterlund) December 13, 2023
Reports are that Jokic called the ref a “motherf****r,” which completely deserves a T from the officials. However, to toss him after on technical for that seems like a wild overreaction from NBA referee Mousa Dagher. On the broadcast, the announcers even called it out as “excessive.”
Reading Lindsay’s response, it seems as though he may agree that the ejection was a step too far from Dagher, but as crew chief, he has to defend the call. If he agreed with it — or even fully understood why it happened — you’d think he would make a more full-throated defense of his guy.
The Nuggets beat the Bulls in the end, so all’s well that ends well as far as the standings go, but it will be interesting to see how Adam Silver and the NBA respond to this aggressive move by the refs.
