According to Adam Himmelsbach of The Boston Globe, the NBA has rescinded Boston Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla’s second technical foul from the game against the Chicago Bulls. He will no longer be fined for the second tech, and the ejection he received was also taken away.
Mazzulla’s ejection came with just under five minutes to play in the third quarter. Bulls center Nikola Vucevic thrashed the ball through the air in disagreement with a call but did not receive a tech. Jayson Tatum argued that Vucevic’s motion was similar to the one he had gotten called for a few minutes earlier.
When Mazzulla went to back up Tatum, referee Marc Davis issued him a technical foul for arguing. Then, when Mazzulla did not leave the court in a timely manner, Davis gave him another technical foul in quick succession, thus ejecting him from the game.
Davis explained the ejection in the league’s official Pool Report:
“After previously being warned at 4:53 in the [third] quarter, he comes onto the court making unsportsmanlike comments and is assessed his first technical foul. He does not get off the floor and continues to point and complain and is assessed his second technical foul and is ejected as per rule.”
Post-game, Mazzulla said that he “was just trying to get the referee’s attention” across the court and did not curse at the referees. That being said, Mazzulla also admitted that he has “to have better composure under the circumstances.”
While Mazzulla’s ejection was rescinded, Celtics forward Grant Williams received an additional punishment after his actions. The NBA announced that Williams will be suspended for one game for “recklessly making contact with and directing inappropriate language toward a game official.”
Williams charged toward the sideline in protest of a call and, in the process, bumped into referee Cheryl Flores, who promptly ejected him from the contest.
Boston’s next game is on Friday against the Cleveland Cavaliers and tips off at 7:30 p.m. ET.
