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The nature of the NBA Playoffs means every single contest has the potential to be a very chipper one, and Sunday’s showdown between the Suns and the Nuggets was certainly no exception.
Denver had a 55-54 lead over Phoenix in the closing minutes of the second quarter when a fairly bizarre scene unfolded courtesy of Suns owner Mat Ishbia, who treated us to a flop for the ages after he was elbowed by Nuggets superstar Nikola Jokic after inexplicably refusing to hand over the basketball that had made its way into the crowd.
Nikola Jokić appeared to shove Suns owner Matt Ishbia after the play.
Jokić was given a technical foul.
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— The Athletic (@TheAthletic) May 8, 2023
Jokić received a technical foul for his actions during that altercation, and after the game, he defended himself by asserting Ishbia had sparked the incident and that the Suns owner deserved to get kicked out of the game for his involvement.
"He told me I was elbowing the fan, but the fan put their hand on me first. I thought the league is supposed to protect us… He's influencing the game. I think he's supposed to get kicked out."
Nikola Jokic on the incident with Suns owner Mat Ishbiapic.twitter.com/O2esgnfYx2
— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) May 8, 2023
Nuggets head coach Mike Malone echoed those comments while speaking with the media following his team’s 129-124 loss in Game 4 of the Western Conference Semifinals and wasn’t afraid to deploy some profanity while arguing Ishbia’s status as an owner shouldn’t have made him immune to getting ejected.
Ishbia wasn’t contractually obligated to speak to reporters after the game, so we didn’t get to hear his side of the story.
However, he did break his silence on Monday morning when he hopped on Twitter to respond to the fallout of the exchange.
While he declined to offer any sort of official apology, he did suggest he didn’t want the incident to distract from the outcome of the game and stated Jokić shouldn’t receive any discipline on top of the already controversial tech he was hit with, saying, “Suspending or fining anyone over last night’s incident would not be right.”
Great win for the Suns last night in an amazing series so far!
That should be and is the only story. Suspending or fining anyone over last nights incident would not be right. I have alot of respect for Jokic and don’t want to see anything like that. Excited for game 5! Go Suns!— Mat Ishbia (@Mishbia15) May 8, 2023
The two teams will be heading back to Denver for Game 5 of the series on Tuesday night, and while it’s unclear if Ishbia will be in attendance, we can only hope we avoid a repeat of what unfolded.