Philadelphia 76ers coach Nick Nurse and guard Kelly Oubre Jr. have each been fined $50,000 for their actions directed at officials at the end of their 108-107 loss to the LA Clippers on Wednesday.
The league announced Friday that Nurse was fined for aggressively pursuing and verbally abusing game officials. Oubre’s fine was for verbally abusing and directing an obscene gesture toward game officials.
The game ended when Clippers forward Kawhi Leonard blocked an Oubre attempt at the rim.
Nurse believed Oubre was fouled by LA’s Paul George while driving to the basket. Nurse went onto the court to argue and had to be restrained by assistants. Oubre pointed at each official before getting pulled away.
Referee Kevin Scott acknowledged 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 gone to the free-throw line with a chance to tie or win the game.
“In real time, the crew interpreted that play as the defender jumping vertically,” Scott said. “However, in postgame video review, we did observe some slight drift to his left by the defender George, and a foul should have been ruled.”
Oubre later apologized for confronting the officials.
“In the heat of the moment in an intense basketball game, of course, we’re not perfect,” Oubre said at the time. “The refs are not perfect. 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.”
Reporting by The Associated Press.
[Want great stories delivered right to your inbox? Create or log in to your FOX Sports account, follow leagues, teams and players to receive a personalized newsletter daily.]
National Basketball Association
Philadelphia 76ers
Get more from National Basketball Association Follow your favorites to get information about games, news and more