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Tim McMahon
multiple authors
oklahoma city – after denver nuggets supper star Nikola Jokic After Pecom Center collapsed on the court early in the fourth quarter on Friday night, he decided he needed to react to what he believed to be a dirty tactic. oklahoma city thunder guard luguentz dort.
A playful game between the rivals, who faced off in a seven-game series in last season’s Western Conference Semifinals, turned into a heated confrontation at that point, resulting in Dort’s ejection and double technical fouls on Jokic and the Oklahoma City Center. jaelyn williams.
The uproar began when Dort appeared to trip Jokic while running down the court with 8:03 remaining in the fourth quarter. Dort walked over to Jokic and stuck out his right leg, knocking down the bigger man, who quickly got to his feet to face an angry Dort.
“It’s an unnecessary move and a necessary reaction,” Jokic said after the Nuggets 127-121 Overtime loss to defending champions. “There’s no such thing – I think things like that shouldn’t happen on a basketball floor. So, it was just an unnecessary step and a necessary reaction by me.”
After Jocic hit Dort in the chest, Williams stepped in to interfere. Jokic and Williams shoved and grabbed each other’s jerseys as a crowd of players, coaches, officials and staff gathered around them and eventually separated them.
“Just competing,” Williams told ESPN. “Two teams competing, that’s all. That’s all I got.”
After review, the foul called against Dort was upgraded to a Serious Foul 2, resulting in an automatic ejection. Crew chief James Williams told a pool reporter that officials “understood [Dort’s] The contact on Jokic was unnecessary and excessive and likely resulted in injury.” Williams also cited the contact that “did not end in controversy” as the reason for upgrading it to Serious Foul 2.
“I will say this: if [Williams] Running the floor and slipping, we expect a great 2 from this point forward,” Thunder coach Mark Daigneault said. “That’s it. If that’s the precedent, if it turns out to be a malicious game and Major 2 is the line in the sand on that, then we would hope that if it’s [Williams]. If it is any, we would expect it. And if that’s the case, we’re good.”
Asked if he believed the game was called a foul 2 because the foul was committed against the three-time MVP, Daigneault said: “No, I’m not going to answer the question that way. I said what I needed to say about it.”
James Williams said in the pool report that the referees determined that the actions of Jokic and Jaylin Williams during the altercation did not rise to the level of ejection.
This feud eclipsed the return of reigning MVP Shai Gilgeous-AlexanderWho had 36 points on 12-of-29 shooting and nine assists in 34 minutes. Gilgeous-Alexander sat out the overtime period because he had reached his minutes limit after missing the previous nine games due to an abdominal strain on February 3.
Gilgeous-Alexander was called for a technical foul in the first quarter when he responded to Jokic’s post-whistle contact by throwing the ball. James Williams told the pool reporter that Jokic was not called for a technical in that game because officials determined that his contact with his left forearm did not rise to the level of an unsportsmanlike act.
“They’re obviously a high-level team, we’re a high-level team, and we’ve seen each other a lot over the last couple of years, so we can bring a little more interest into the game because we know the opponent,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “It was fun. It was good out there. That’s how basketball is at the end of the season. It’s so playful, so physical, so it was nice to get one of those in the regular season.”
The Nuggets fell to 4–7 since Jokic returned from a month-long absence, including 1–6 in clutch games (within five points in the final five minutes) during that span. Jokic recorded his league-leading 22nd triple-double against the Thunder with 23 points, 17 rebounds and 14 assists, but his uncharacteristic recent shooting struggles continued, as he went 9-of-25 from the floor and 2-10 from 3-point range.
Jokic, who was 3 of 5 from the free throw line, animatedly protested the no-call after several of his shots. There were also several incidents of Joc hitting and shoving Thunder players during the game.
Nuggets coach David Edelman said, “I think his frustration sometimes is because the game is operated differently on the floor than it is near the basket, and I think he was reacting to what was being done to him.” “And his reaction won’t be to be intimidated. He’s competitive. … I know why he’s frustrated. I could feel his frustration from all the contact there. He hit five free throws.
“It’s just part of the game. The closer you get to the basket, it feels like it’s for a bigger man, it feels like it’s called a little different, but he has to react to it the right way. Focus and finish through contact. And obviously with Dort’s game, I think it took it to a different level for him. He also felt it was malicious.”
The Nuggets and Thunder will meet again on March 9 in Oklahoma City.
