Jordan Stephenson – Staff Writer
This dangerous altercation between these two players had a lot of people buzzing on social media. This season, the National Basketball Association has been allowing much more physical play than in previous years. This altercation that took place was towing the line between dangerous and dirty
Nikola Jokic and Markieff Morris engaged in a dangerous altercation. Morris committed a hard foul to Jokic’s right side with his elbow.
When Morris walked away, a heated Jokic used his right forearm with full force to Morris’s’ back, which sent Morris falling hard to the floor. What made it worse was that Morris was treated for whiplash.
Jokic and Morris were both ejected with 2:39 left in the 4th quarter, for each committing flagrant two fouls, which is an automatic ejection.
Many emotions from the altercation continued onto social media, mostly between both of their respective brothers.
Marcus Morris tweeted, “Waited till bro turned his back smh, NOTED.” Jokic’s brothers made a joint Twitter account called “@JokicBrothers,” and then tweeted, “You should leave this the way it is instead of publicly threatening our brother; your brother made a dirty play first, and if u want to make a step further, we will be waiting for you”!!
Heat coach, Erik Spolestra said, “That was a very dangerous and dirty play; Keef took a foul and it was one of those fast break take fouls, which he did with his shoulder. He also said,
“You might deem that maybe a little bit more than just slapping somebody, but after watching it on film it was a take foul; that’s exactly how I saw it, and the play after that is just absolutely uncalled for.”
He also added, “The video and picture is worth a thousand words.”
Most, if not all the Heat players were livid when the altercation happened and after the game.
All the coaches and referees were trying to keep things calm when the dangerous altercation took place. Jokic was seen just sitting on the bench, while everything was getting sorted out on the court.
Jimmy Butler’s emotions were definitely running high after the altercation happened. He was shouting towards the Nuggets bench, while being held back by teammates.
Jokic said, “It’s a stupid play, I feel bad, I’m not supposed to react that way, but I thought it was going to be a take foul. He also said, “I think it was a dirty play, and I just wanted to protect myself; I felt bad, I’m not supposed to react that way, but I needed to protect myself.”
On Nov. 9, Jokic was suspended without pay for one game for his flagrant two fouls.
Morris was fined $50,000 for his flagrant two fouls, and Butler was fined $30,000 for trying to escalate the situation further. PJ Tucker said, Markieff is my brother, and he’s been a brother for a long time.”
He also said, “We’re men, we’ve got kids, you have to think about our livelihoods, and it’s not just basketball.”
In my heart of hearts, I honestly do think it was a dirty play, because Morris was blindsided by Jokic and it wasn’t a fair “playing field.”
I also agree the suspension and fines were all fair. Both the Heat and Nuggets are great teams, so they’ll both move on quickly from this situation because they both have battle-tested veterans to lean on.
stepj39@mail.broward.edu