Indiana Pacers coach Rick Carlisle was ejected from his team’s game against the NBA champion Denver Nuggets on Tuesday.
Carlisle thought that Pascal Siakam had been fouled with no call when he racked up two technical fouls in quick succession with 8:07 remaining in the third quarter:
After the game, Carlisle spoke on his ejection, according to Tony East of SI Pacers:
“‘ didn’t like what I was seeing out there at all. Not one bit,’ Carlisle says of his ejection.”
The Nuggets ended up topping the Pacers 114-109 behind a triple-double from Nikola Jokic.
He scored 31 points, had 13 rebounds and 10 assists for his 13th triple-double of the season. He made 3 of 4 from 3-point range including a crucial one late in the first half and the decisive one with 6.1 seconds left to seal Denver’s 114-109 victory at Indiana. He only had one turnover, too.
After Carlisle’s ejection , Nuggets stars Jamal Murray and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope had to play Rock-Paper Scissors to determine who the shooter would be. Eventually, it was Caldwell-Pope who won.
The Pacers have lost five of their last six games, and they are 24-20 on the season.
The Pacers were in a tough spot, as they had to take on the Nuggets without star Tyrese Haliburton, who is out dealing with a strained hamstring.
The Pacers guard last played in the Jan. 19 118-115 loss to the Portland Trail Blazers. He played 35 minutes in that game, scoring 21 points and dishing out 17 assists. It was Haliburton’s first game since the Jan. 8 game against the Boston Celtics, when he played 13 minutes in a 133-131 win. That was the game where he initially suffered the hamstring strain.
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