Two players were kicked out of an NBA game when the reigning MVP took issue with a physical play and retaliated violently.
There were ugly scenes in the NBA on Tuesday (AEDT) when two players were ejected from a game between the Denver Nuggets and Miami Heat following a violent act of retaliation.
It all kicked off when Nuggets star Nikola Jokic was dribbling the ball up the court in the final minutes of the fourth quarter when he was fouled hard by Miami’s Markieff Morris.
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Morris executed a “take foul” on Jokic, whereby a team will intentionally slap or hit the opposition player’s arm or body to stop the play and halt their transition on a fast break.
Except in this instance, he ran straight in to Jokic’s ribs, hitting him hard.
The reigning NBA MVP didn’t take kindly to that, immediately charging towards Morris who had his back turned and elbowing him hard in the back.
The old fashioned hip and shoulder knocked Morris to the ground, where he remained for several minutes wincing in pain.
“Oh my, Jokic just clobbered Markieff Morris from behind,” the commentator said.
Officials reviewed the play and ejected Jokic from the game as well as Morris, who was given a flagrant 2 foul for his contact that was deemed to be “excessive and unnecessary”.
As Jokic made his way to the bench, tensions threatened to boil over as Heat star Jimmy Butler defended his teammate, yelling in the direction of Jokic: “Bring you a** to the back!”.
Jokic had a superb game otherwise, scoring 25 points along with 10 assists and 15 rebounds to record a triple-double as Denver won 113-96.
However, the Serbian is expected to be suspended for several games for his hit on Morris in a major blow to the Nuggets.
Speaking in his post-match press conference, Jokic said he regretted striking Morris, adding it was a spur of the moment decision to retaliate to his “dirty shot” that went beyond a standard take foul.
“It’s a stupid play,” he said.
“I feel bad. I’m not supposed to react that way. But it’s in the middle of the game, I get hit. I saw him, I just thought it was going to be like a take foul. He kind of bumped me.
“I think it was a dirty play and then I just needed to protect myself.
“I thought it was a dirty foul, a dirty shot.
“Me and Bam (Adebayo) was fighting me the whole night, it was a nice fight.
“I think you can play fair play and still play aggressive and still like fight with a guy. I thought it was a little bit over the edge so that’s why I reacted.”
Miami coach Eric Spoelstra was furious after the game, arguing Jokic’s hit on Morris was completely “uncalled for”.
“That was a very dangerous, dirty play,” Spoelstra said.
“I thought Kieff took a foul. It was one of those fast break take fouls and he did it with his shoulder.
“You might deem that as a little bit more than just slapping somebody but after I watched it on film, it was a take foul. That’s how I saw it.
“And the play after that, that’s just absolutely uncalled for.
“This whole thing could have been a whole lot uglier if Markieff was actually facing Jokic. “The fact that he had his back turned and he made a play like that, blindsiding him, that was just a very dangerous play.”
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