The fans at United Center were fuming after referee Mousa Dagher tossed Nuggets star Nikola Jokic from Tuesday’s game against the Bulls.
It all stemmed from a play late in the second quarter where the Serbian superstar thought he was fouled, but the refs didn’t make a call.
As the play went the other way, the 2023 NBA Finals MVP said something to the official and Jokic was given a technical and ejected from the game — an eventual 114-106 win by Denver.
The decision drew loud boos from the crowd in Chicago, with a large number in attendance were presumably there to see Jokic play in what was the only time he’d step onto the court in the Windy City this season.
The Bulls had been expecting a large contingent of Serbian fans for Tuesday’s game, Bulls PR told ESPN.
The decision also drew notable criticism from the NBC Sports Chicago broadcast team which seemed flabbergasted at the decision by Dagher to toss Jokic out of the game over a rather minor incident.
“That’s terrible. That’s excessive,” analyst Stacey King said. “Give the guy a tech. He should have got a tech and he should have got fouled, but to eject the guy? C’mon now. The people didn’t come to see the officials. Let’s just be honest, they came to see the players.
“[Jokic] is one of the players people came to see. Give him a tech. He earns that. He’s a two-time MVP, he earned the right to be able to communicate.”
Jokic finished the game with four points, nine rebounds and six assists in 16 minutes before he was sent off to the locker room.
It marked the second time this season that Jokic has been ejected from a game and now makes him the third player in the NBA to have been kicked out from multiple games this season.
Nuggets coach Michael Malone after the game said Dagher “felt the language [Jokic] used warranted an ejection.”
For his part, Jokic agreed that he “crossed the line,” adding that “sometimes that word doesn’t cross the line.”
He was sent off — along with Nuggets coach Michael Malone — for arguing with the official during a Nov. 20 game against the Pistons.
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