A suspension may be coming for Nuggets center Nikola Jokic after a violent hit on Heat forward Markieff Morris in the late stages of Monday’s game, writes Joe Vardon of The Athletic.
With 2:39 remaining and Denver leading by 17 points, Morris committed a hard intentional foul on Jokic at midcourt. The reigning MVP responded by charging at Morris and hitting him in the back with his right forearm and shoulder. According to Vardon, Morris’ head snapped back and he collapsed to the floor while grabbing his forehead as a fight erupted between the other players on the court.
Miami’s medical team, along with paramedics, spent several minutes checking on Morris before he was able to walk to the locker room with help from teammates. After the game, Heat coach Erik Spoelstra blasted Jokic for his actions.
“It’s just absolutely uncalled for, and it would have looked a lot different, this whole thing could have been a lot uglier if Markieff was actually facing Jokic,” Spoelstra said. “The fact that he had his back turned, and he made a play like that, blindsiding, it was just a very dangerous play.”
Jokic, who was ejected, admitted that he handled the situation poorly, saying, “It’s a stupid play. I feel bad.” Morris received a Flagrant-2 foul and was also ejected for prompting the incident.
“The contact by Morris was interpreted to be excessive and unnecessary based on the following criteria,” referee Kevin Scott explained. “One, the severity of the contact. Two, whether or not the player was making a legitimate basketball play. Three, the potential for injury resulting from the contact, and four, the outcome of the contact led to an altercation.”
Denver coach Michael Malone told reporters that he expects to have Jokic available for Wednesday’s game, but admitted that he hadn’t watched a replay of the incident. Vardon considers a suspension to be inevitable.
I just watched the clip. While Jokic is wrong, Morris has some responsibility for this. He goes and does basically a hockey check into Jokic for no reason other than frustration. Jokic then retaliates and unfortunately hurts Morris. This is the problem with dirty play and fights. Once you start, it can escalate into something worse.
Yup, the Morris bros been dirty for years. They have this coming to them, plus he wasn’t seriously hurt. Jokic is not a guy you can play with like that, just look at his terrifying brothers he grew up “playfighting” with.
Jokic deserves like 10 games here. Which means we can pretty much will call the West for GSW now, lol
So many things wrong with this post. First off Jokic doesn’t deserve 10 games. He deserves 3 at most. On top of that there’s still approximately 70 games left in the season, and finally the team in 6th place is going to have more of a bearing on the final standings then the team in 2nd place who also had the best record in the league last year?
Utah is in a much better position to win the West than his Warriors are.
I’d expect at most a 1-2 game suspension.
As do many (athlete) twins in “regular life”, the Morris brothers have a reputation for being dirty and tough and they’ve ridden that wave their whole careers because nobody has really checked to see how tough they actually are. It’s finally happened, and now one is crying via twitter saying Jokic “waited” til his brother turned his back. No, he didn’t. Morris cheap-shotted Jokic and immediately turned to walk away because he thought it was just another of his cheapshots that aren’t retaliated against because he’s “so tough”. Clearly, he didn’t think Jokic would hit him back…. who does hit him back, right? Because he and his brother are some bad dudes (wink). Jokic responded to a cheapshot with one of his own, and good for him!
So now the Morris twins respond as if THEY’RE the victims smh.
Both will be suspended and Jokic’s will be worse, and deservedly so.
But, there’s a lot of guys around the league, past and present, who would love to high-five him and chip in on his fine!
Morris is a little cry baby who instigated this whole thing and then milked it after the fact. Heat fans complaining that Jokic did it with his back turned…jimmy butler and crew didn’t want any f2f with jokic but when he was walking away, fake tough guy butler started talking. If jokic gets suspended for one then Morris should be suspended for 2. No love for the MVP, imagine if it was Lebron instead, everyone would be on his side…pathetic
Agree 100%, Butler “exploded” when Jokic was far away, all the drama following the Jokic aggression its tottaly unnecessary. Players should only control their teammates and let the referees make the calls.
I love Jimmy and think he definitely can beat up a lot of the league, but Jokic is not the one.
He’ll get suspended for 3-5 games. Morris instigated it, though, and should have expected some form of retaliation, so it was a little bizarre that he completely turned away and disengaged…probably to try to avoid his own ejection.
He turned away because he knew he messed up but also because he’s a punk and a coward. He’s been dirty and a fake tough guy for years it was about time he got checked.
B I N G O
TBH more players should do this type of thing randomly to known dirty players like the Morris bros, Grayson Allen and Pat Bev. Just remind them that their actions have consequences even if the rules of the game don’t cover them, some players (like Jokic) will always flat out not care about the rules when you habitually step over the line on them over and over.
I feel like the dishonest basketball of the last 5 years, instigated by rewarding James Harden’s terrible foul baiting ploy, and then letting guys like Pat Bev put dozens of scars on Steph Curry’s arms, with everything on camera and under extreme analysis, it looks like the NBA is trying to reel all the dishonest aspects of the game back in and going to honest basketball, like the kind Steph Curry naturally plays (as seen last night vs a good team in the full-strength Hawks). All the games are a LOT more watchable now there’s less foul shooting. Gotta love that!
Honest basketball. You mean like the Jordan rules?
You’re in favor of players giving cheap shots to “dirty players” and then getting suspended.
Brilliant.
You’re taking his comment as a victim instead of the truth. Dirty players like the Morris bros never get dealt with for their actions. It’s good to see someone stand up to him and show him he’s not all that scary. Not calling it right but I am saying it is necessary at times to keep punks like him in check.
All it does is show players if you get Jokic riled up, you can get him to lose it and get kicked out of the game.
Sometimes, in the regular season, you gotta do what you gotta do.
Its not Game 4 of the Finals you’re getting thrown out of… THATS losing it.
“As a fight erupted between the other players on the court.” Hahahahahaha.
Did you watch the clip? There was barely even any shoving. I’m honestly not sure there was another player even pushed, let alone an actual fight. Hahaha
The clip doesn’t show the context – Jokic had been getting beaten up all game long.
Hacked, pushed, barged on screens.
Refs not calling contact is obviously a thing this season but how they don’t realise it’s only to stop the Youngs and Hardens of the league initiating contact, and not about turning a blind eye to players holding their opponent’s jersey or arm when they’re trying to shoot is beyond me.
The league needs to get on top of this or we’ll see many more instances of players losing their cool. Jokic is pretty stoic when it comes to dealing with aggressive D but even he evidently draws a line somewhere.
Apparently that’s a fake tough guy charging sidelong into his ribs when he’s making a pass at halfcourt.
Anyone remember what caused him to clothesline Cameron Payne in the bubble? Missed call or just the frustration of losing with MPJ as their second best player?
Today, the Refs protect almost any skilled player from any form of physicality, but there seems to be an exception for skilled big men. It’s not the 1990’s for them, but you see a lot stuff that wouldn’t fly between two non-bigs, especially in the area of continuous borderline (today) cheap shots that guys like Morris specialize in.
Jokic clearly can’t do what he did. He has to keep his cool and pick his spots, and his teammates (particularly the guys who play limited minutes) have to have his back and pick some as well. These teams only meet twice a year, but my sense is Jokic’s frustration goes beyond Morris and this game. In all events, a superstar that’s carrying a team (almost by himself) can’t be initiating these kinds of confrontations even if its in response to cheap shots on the part of the opponent. Not good for DEN or the league.
Denver comes to Miami on the 29th we going to see who’s bout that life
personally I prefer to see who’s bout that basketball, especially in a contest between two high performing teams. if I want to watch a fight I’ll watch UFC. the fact that people cheer it on makes me sick to my stomach…
Jokic should get a game and leave it at that
1st Jokic was unnecessarily bumpbed hard under the basket then he himself gets hacked hard at a point in the game where it was over I honestly can’t blame the guy for retaliation. The play should of been stopped and an offensive foul called under the basket. Mortis should’ve gotten a flagrant2. There was no point in that other than to injure.
Like I’ve been saying that’s fine if they call less fouls but you have to draw a line. I don’t want to see this crap on a regular basis like back in the 80’s and 90’s.
Morris bros been playing dirty for years and now someone retaliates and it’s big news.
Good on Jokic
Aw c’mon. They’re not dirty. They’re really skilled defensive players.
Maybe a little physical… but skilled.
Which brothers have you been watching? They’re obviously dirty!
Jokic is going to get suspended, and Markeif won’t.
That isn’t “good on Jokic” that is Jokic losing his cool. Morris punked him out.
Morris is a dirty player, so he deserves to get hit!
MIA is a dirty team full of chickens, good they got beaten!
Jokic did the right thing, he mustn’t be suspended, more like given a medal, right?
Jokic admitted he messed up. He should get a game or two off and Morris should get 1 game off. We don’t want NBA turning into WWF with the phoney, over the top antics.
You think it’s phoney well it’s still real to me!
Isn’t Morris the one who kept trying to pick fights with Luca Doncic last year?
The same.
Actually no.
That was Marcus.
Markieff wants to hit-n-run. He knows there will be something, because he started it, so turn around guy.
If this was Draymond Green, Dwight Howard or maybe in his day Ron Artest, people would be screaming for a much longer suspension.
what is…your point?
The NBA is and always be a stratified system that protects its stars and Jokic is one of their current favorites.