NEW YORK: Philadelphia 76ers head coach Nick Nurse and guard Kelly Oubre Jr. were each fined $50,000 by the NBA on Friday for heated complaints after a missed call in a frustrating loss. The incidents came after the intense final seconds of Philadelphia’s 108-107 home loss to the Los Angeles Clippers on Wednesday. Oubre was driving to the basket when Paul George of the Clippers blocked his path and they made contact.

No foul was called and the final seconds ticked away, sparking the complaints and other actions by Nurse and Oubre that resulted in the punishments. After the game, referee crew chief Kevin Scott said that a video review showed a foul should have been whistled on George and Oubre should have been sent to the free throw line with a chance to win the game with less than a second to play.

But that came too late to prevent Nurse and Oubre from heated actions after the missed call robbed the Sixers of their chance to win. Nurse rushed onto the court to complain about not having the foul called, with assistant coaches restraining him from pressing his case. Nurse was fined for “aggressively pursuing and verbally abusing game officials” while Oubre’s fine was for “verbally abusing and directing an obscene gesture toward game officials.”

Oubre had to be pulled away after gesturing at all three officials but later apologized for losing his cool in the heat of the moment. “First and foremost, heat of the moment,” Oubre said after the game. “This is an intense basketball game and we’re not perfect. The refs aren’t perfect. I want to apologize for just losing my cool.” Seeing Nurse make his move made Oubre feel more confident about his own complaints, he said. “I saw Coach Nurse getting riled up and if our coach is going to fight for us and he’s going there, then I’m right behind him,” Oubre said.

“But at the end of the day, it wasn’t cool. So I’ll take whatever penalties come with that and you have to move on, but I got to be better in a sense.” Nurse was matter-of-fact after the game, saying, “I thought it was enough contact to call. That’s the way it goes sometimes.” The 76ers, who have struggled without injured 2022-23 NBA Most Valuable Player Joel Embiid, have fallen to eighth in the Eastern Conference at 39-34. The Clippers, 45-27, are fourth in the Western Conference, a half-game ahead of New Orleans. — AFP