Nick Nurse, the coach of the Philadelphia 76ers, and guard Kelly Oubre Jr. have been fined $50,000 each for their behavior towards officials at the conclusion of their 108-107 loss to the Los Angeles Clippers on Wednesday.
The league stated on Friday that Nurse was fined for aggressively pursuing and verbally mistreating game officials. Oubre’s fine was for verbally mistreating and making an offensive gesture towards game officials.
The game concluded when Kawhi Leonard of Los Angeles blocked an attempt by Oubre at the basket.
Nurse thought Oubre was fouled by Los Angeles’ Paul George while driving to the basket. Nurse entered the court to argue and had to be held back by assistants. Oubre pointed at each official before being taken away.
Referee Kevin Scott admitted in a pool report after the game that George should have been called for a foul on the play. If a foul had been called, Oubre would have had a chance to tie or win the game from the free-throw line.
“In real time the crew interpreted that play as the defender jumping vertically,” Scott said in a pool report. “However, in post-game video review we did observe some slight drift to his left by the defender George, and a foul should have been ruled.”
Oubre later expressed regret for confronting the officials.
“In the heat of the moment in an intense basketball game, of course, and we’re not perfect. The refs are not perfect,” Oubre said at the time. “I want to apologize for losing my cool, because that’s something I work on each and every day and trying to represent God in the best way that I can. And that wasn’t it.”
