Nikola Jokic is the best show in basketball. The Detroit Pistons remain the worst show in basketball, even after four years of rebuilding. With Jokic and the Denver Nuggets coming to Detroit on Monday night, long-suffering Pistons fans attending the game at least got the opportunity to watch the top player in the league at the height of his powers. It just didn’t last as long as they were hoping.
Nikola Jokic’s ejection even got Pistons announcers mad at refs
Pistons announcers called out the refs by name after Nikola Jokic’s ejection because they really wanted to watch him
Ricky O'Donnell has covered basketball at all levels for more than a decade at SB Nation. He’s currently the Associate Director of Programming.
Jokic was ejected during the second quarter after receiving his second technical foul. It happened during an odd sequence where Jokic momentarily stopped backing down Detroit’s Marvin Bagley III to yell at the refs that there should have been a foul called. The refs responded by giving him a technical foul, his second of the game, which triggers an automatic ejection.
As Jokic was getting tossed from the game, Pistons announcers George Blaha and Greg Kelser criticized the officiating crew, calling out the refs by name for giving the reigning Finals MVP the ejection. You would expect this sort of thing on the home broadcast, but not from the away team. Watch the moment here:
The Nuggets beat the Pistons, 107-103, even without Jokic for the second half.
This is how bad things have gotten for the Pistons: they’re already so far down in the standings that it doesn’t really matter if they win or lose games; at this point, the fans and broadcasting team just wants to watch the greatness Jokic provides. This was the Nuggets’ only trip to Detroit all season, and the superstar center didn’t even last a half.
It’s easy to think back of Giannis Antetokounmpo getting a soft ejection against the Pistons earlier this year. If the NBA wants to boost ratings, it probably shouldn’t be ejecting the best players in the league over questionable calls. Maybe Giannis and Jokic just didn’t think the Pistons were worth their time.
It’s not every day you see broadcasters get upset at a player ejection from the opposition, but that’s just how good Jokic is, and how bad this Pistons season has been once again.
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