After a long fight, the Philadelphia 76ers take home their first win this season. It definitely wasn’t something that the Philly fans expected, looking at the off-season trade. Unfortunately, everything went for a toss when Paul George sustained an injury in a preseason game. The concerns only seemed to mount as Joel Embiid has yet to lace up for a basketball game since the Paris Olympics. Amid this concerning situation, Coach Nick Nurse might have faced a suspension, further digging a deeper pit.

Tyrese Maxey, who shouldered the Sixers so far, just like he did last season during Embiid’s knee injury, orchestrated the first win with a 45-point effort. However, the team had to go through a rough final few minutes. Especially, with less than 2 minutes left in the fourth quarter, Coach Nurse got caught up in an intense argument with the ref over a controversial call. The situation went so out of hand that the ref had to slap a technical foul on the 57-year-old while the team was trailing by 3 points.

It all began when Myles Turner shot the ball from the arc, with 9 seconds remaining on the shot clock. The shot missed everything on its way. The Pacers, on the other hand, retrieved the ball and continued passing it around for a while, except for the fact that the refs counted it as a rebound, and refreshed the shot clock from 14 seconds. However, 9 seconds later, the ref took the play to official review to check whether the ball touched the rim. It came out clean, so the refs called it an air ball and reset the shot clock to 6 seconds.

However, it didn’t sit well with Coach Nurse, as he continued to argue with the ref over the newly added time. The official remained patient for a while until he dropped a tech.

What did Nick Nurse say to the Ref?

Nevertheless, the tech didn’t affect the Sixers, as they went on to seal the deal in overtime. And a happy coach sat down at the presser, taking the tough questions. One reporter posed the question over the technical foul to the coach. Speaking of it, Nick Nurse said, “They had had the ball for 23 seconds and how an air by their shot clock guy gives them the ball with another added time and added game time.”

Nurse further added, “ I don’t know same thing happened to us a few times I don’t ever recall that being the situation that more clock was put on and the team gets to go back to where they started from even after dribbling it around for 5 seconds.” With one up in the points table, the Sixers will face the Pistons on Wednesday and will look to steal another win.

However, the team has a deeper concern with PG and Embiid out of action. After hyper-extending his knee in a preseason game, the team listed PG out indefinitely, until the medical team reevaluates him later this week. Meanwhile, visuals of Joel Embiid throwing FTs surfaced online, hinting at his return. Will the Sixers make a turnaround once these superstars return? Let us know in the comments.