On Tuesday night, the Denver Nuggets prevailed on the road against the Chicago Bulls in a game that's making headlines not because of basketball highlights. With less than two minutes left in the second quarter, Nikola Jokic was suddenly ejected from the game after complaining for a foul.
Addressing the media, Nuggets head coach Michael Malone had this to say after speaking with the officials.
“[The referee] just felt the language that was used warranted an ejection,” Malone said, via The Athletic's Darnell Mayberry. “A one-tech ejection which I was very shocked at. And when I heard what [Jokic] said, I said ‘I don’t understand the problem because when I grew up that was a term of endearment in my house.'”
Nikola Jokic's unwarranted ejection is league-wide trend
The ejection comes as another blow to an issue already spiraling out of control. Just the day before, Atlanta Hawks guard Trae Young was ejected with two straight technical fouls in under a minute. Last Friday, Boston Celtics star Jaylen Brown was tossed after getting issued a tech while on the bench.
As expected, Nuggets fans exploded in a social media frenzy after Jokic headed to the locker room with just 16 minutes of play. To make matters worse, boos were heard being echoed in the United Center, Chicago's home court.
However, Malone seemed to want to move forward from the issue, ending on a positive note. He praised Denver's role players for stepping up in the absence of the team's key players.
“Obviously, we need Nikola out there. He's a great player but with him out, with Jamal (Murray) out, with (Kentavious Caldwell-) Pope out, everybody else stepped up and it was fun to watch. These games are character wins and I'm very very proud of our group.”
Point guard Reggie Jackson led the team in the win with 25 points, while Michael Porter Jr. and rookie Julian Strawther added 17 and 16 points, respectively.
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