It was a rough night for NBA official Jenna Schroeder on Monday.
First she gave a second technical foul to Philadelphia 76ers’ big man Andre Drummond on a play where she thought Drummond fouled Victor Wembanyama in the paint, but replays showed that the San Antonio Spurs star appeared to have flopped and/or tripped.
The second tech came after Drummond was called for one for talking trash to Wembanyama and led to Drummond being ejected from the game.
Sixers coach Nick Nurse became animated in a big way after the second technical, and had to be restrained by star guard Tyrese Maxey.
But Schroeder later approached Nurse and said, “I f—ed up. He [Wembanyama] gets a technical.”
Drummond was allowed to return to the game and Schroeder was roundly criticized on social media.
But Schroeder’s night was just beginning. She then called Joel Embiid for an offensive foul against Wembanyama. Embiid went ballistic and argued with her, even taking his mask off at one point.
“Joel has got to be careful. He’s getting real heated now,” 76ers play-by-play commentator Kate Scott said on air.
“This is unbelievable… this is Mickey Mouse,” added former NBA player Alaa Abdelnaby.
“This isn’t real. This is a joke.”
As Kyle Lowry attempted to separate Embiid from Schroeder, she gave the Sixers’ star two technical fouls for arguing and bounced him from the game as well.
That call was not overturned and Embiid was ejected.
The Sixers ended up winning the game 111-106 behind Maxey’s 32 points.
“Without Joel a lot of teams try to load up on me and sometimes trap me,” Maxey said. “Nurse has been on me about attacking early, attacking in transition. The ways I can do that is getting defensive rebounds and steals. As you’ve seen I’ve been trying to get a lot more rebounds so I can push the ball and get out quicker, just play in the open space, and get my teammates involved as well doing that.”
The Sixers are now 10-17 and in the 12th position in the Eastern Conference.
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Adam Zagoria is a freelance reporter who covers Seton Hall and NJ college basketball for NJ Advance Media. You may follow him on Twitter @AdamZagoria and check out his Website at ZAGSBLOG.com
