In what was supposed to be a relatively meaningless December matchup, the Denver Nuggets visited (and eventually defeated) the Chicago Bulls on Tuesday night at United Center.
It should have been a ho-hum game, but turned out to be the opposite.
Nuggets star Nikola Jokić was ejected from the game just minutes before halftime due to displaying his displeasure with the officials. The two-time MVP was upset with the lack of a call after he drove to the hoop, allegedly used a choice word when telling the referee to make a call and was eventually booted.
The kicker? It was “Serbian Heritage Night” at United Center.
It isn’t often that the Nuggets visit Chicago, as the NBA’s schedule accounts for just one visit for out-of-conference opponents each season. That’s why the Bulls, knowing Jokić would only visit once this season, decided to tab Tuesday as the night to celebrate Jokić’s home country.
It just happened that official Mousa Dagher had other plans.
There are few who weren’t outraged by the call, including Bulls announcers Adam Amin and Stacey King who were both perplexed and incensed with the decision.
“I saw the official point as if he was ejecting Jokić from the game,” Amin said, per Awful Announcing. “That can’t be right, can it? Did he get ejected from the game?”
“That’s terrible,” King responded. “… Give the guy a tech. He shoulda got a foul, but to eject the guy? C’mon now,” King said. “The people didn’t come to see the officials. Let’s be honest, they came to see the players. He’s one of the players they came to see. He’s a two-time MVP. He earned the right to be able to communicate.”
You can watch everything play out here.
It’s the kind of thing the NBA should want to get away from, especially when players like Warriors forward Draymond Green make it so easy to evaluate what is actually worthy of an ejection.
