It has been open season on officiating all over sports in the broadcast booth in recent years. No matter the sport, no matter the telecast, announcers have been more willing than ever before to shine a light on bad calls.
And now the officials are ready to strike back and take their revenge.
It’s a very rare thing to see officials respond to criticism from someone on a team or national broadcast, but that’s exactly what happened after a controversial situation in Sunday’s Sixers-Hawks game.
With Atlanta leading by a point and inbounding from midcourt, Philadelphia was forced to foul. Nickeil Alexander-Walker received the inbounds pass, but his momentum carried him into the backcourt. Immediately, Sixers announcers Kate Scott and Alaa Abdelnaby started calling for a backcourt violation. However, none was given. Alexander-Walker made both free throws and the Hawks held on for a 120-117 victory. Philadelphia was unable to challenge the play.
Well, the official NBA Referees social media account got wind of Abdelnaby’s apoplectic response to the call on the floor, because it dedicated a post on X to the Sixers analyst, saying that he was wrong and the game officials were right.
This was not a backcourt violation and has never been a backcourt violation.
For those calling the game, there is a responsibility to know the NBA rules and explain them correctly in order to properly educate the fans @alaatweets
See the below thread for more examples: https://t.co/UOWQ9qrTwd
— NBA Referees (@OfficialNBARefs) December 15, 2025
“This was not a backcourt violation and has never been a backcourt violation. For those calling the game, there is a responsibility to know the NBA rules and explain them correctly in order to properly educate the fans @alaatweets,” the post read. It then linked to multiple examples where momentum carried a player into the backcourt and was not judged to be a violation.
In the Sixers-Hawks play, because the Hawks did not firmly establish position in the frontcourt with Alexander-Walker, it wasn’t a backcourt violation.
Still though, that’s a spicy post coming from an official officials account. In the NFL, you might even consider it worth a taunting flag. But if referees are going to band together and start fighting fire with fire when it comes to critical analysts, everyone at the mic might end up being a bit more careful on what calls they want to criticize.