NBA referee injured by camera operator during Hawks vs Nets

Thursday night’s Hawks vs. Nets game was put on a brief pause after a referee was inured in a bizarre fashion.

With a little over eight minutes to go in the fourth quarter of Brooklyn’s matchup with Atlanta at State Farm Arena, Sha’Rae Mitchell ran into a camera operator and sustained a head injury.

Mitchell was initially annoyed with the cameraman for being so close to the court in the middle of play, as leap readers noted she yelled, “Get off the court” following the incident.

But moments later, pain appeared to set in and she needed several moments to collect herself.

The 40-year-old, who played college basketball at UC Santa Barbara and became a full-time official in 2023, walked over to the scorer’s table and sat down in an attempt to recover.

For around a minute, she held her head in her hands and looked dazed.

Fortunately, she was able to shake it off and finish out the game.

The Hawks had the lead at the time of the delay, but the Nets ended up going on an immediate 8-3 run when play resumed.

Atlanta, though, was able to hold off Brooklyn to win, 108-97. Jalen Johnson led all Hawks scorers with 21 points. He added nine rebounds and nine assists.

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