Nikola Jokic Shoves Markieff Morris After Morris's Foul; Both Ejected

[Texas Chuck]

1. t was a dirty reckless play that could have easily injured Jokic, so dont think intent matters that much. Dont think he had the intent to actually injure him but he definitely meant to him harder then he needed to.
2. I think the general consensus is that Jokics response was inappropriate but understandable

1. I agree. But interestingly enough I'm told intent matters enormously when he turns away after the play. I agree the initial Morris play was bad and reckless. But intent has been assigned to his every action by most itt.

2. Right. I'm here too. But I also leave room for others to feel otherwise. There are legitimately people who do not believe in violence or revenge. Who would honestly not have reacted in a way like Jokic. That's okay. That's not them trying to say they are better than other people--just a different philosophy on life.

I think too many people look at what they personally would do in a very different context and then conclude all other views are unacceptable. It's not like that.

[ALPHAandOMEGA]

Markeiff has had this coming for years. +10pts for Jokic

[Texas Chuck]

By not suspending Morris the league has basically shouted from the roof tops that it's okay for scrubs to physically attack and attempt to injure stars... but will clutch their pearls should a star try to defend themselves and say enough is enough.

Not singling you out, I promise. This is something I've seen posted a lot. I don't think it remotely sends that message. If the league concluded Morris was out to injure Jokic he's suspended 100%. Which goes back to people don't like Morris or look at his history and have reached that conclusion even though we don't have evidence of that. It was a reckless play. But we get reckless plays that could injure people in every game and we don't want to go around suspending dudes every time.

And there is no pearl clutching(hate this phrase btw, its too dismissive) here. Jokic's actions warrant a suspension. He was not protecting himself. He was getting revenge. It would be different if this was a situation like say Luka with the other Morris brother where there were repeated questionable plays and then Luka threw him down. That would be a player having to stand up and see that it stops. This was one isolated play. Not a series of attacks on Jokic throughout the game.

We are not going to see a rash of role players trying to injure stars thinking its free reign. I mean you guys have to stop with this. It's absurdity.

[velkisimo]

Lots of people acting high and mighty, ignoring one side and focusing on the other. I challenge anyone to put themselves in either players shoes before responding.

1. If you were Morris, would you sprint across court to blindside biggest guy on the court, possible injurying him, and just turn around expecting nothing will come out of it?

2. If you were Jokic and just got blindesided, would you ignore it?

If you dont answer either of those questions truly, you are not assessing the entire situation correctly.

But what if your assumptions are flawed?

1. I still am not remotely convinced Morris was trying to injure Jokic. People keep highlighting the knee because its central to that case, but I've watched it a bunch and the knee contact appears quite incidental. Morris was upset about something and took a hard needless foul. But I just don't believe because he and his brother have a history of a few plays in thousands of NBA minutes that every time they are involved in something its them trying to injure someone.

2. Are there not other options between ignoring it and what he chose to do? Why is this being presented as either we must admit we would react exactly like Joker did or we are just "high and mighty"? Is there no level of nuance? No other actions we could have taken that don't require us to turn the other cheek or react as violently as Jokic?

You are trying to set a very limited framework and then tell everyone else not willing to accept your assumptions that we can't assess the situation correctly? Nah man.

And I hate that I have to keep doing this, but let me do it anyway--I'm not saying your assumption about Morris is wrong. He might have intentionally gone knee to knee and hoped to injure Joker. I don't personally believe it, but you are welcome to. But me(or others) choosing to think otherwise isn't about being high and mighty or defending Morris or being unable to assess situations.

You misunderstood what i am trying to say and now that i reread my post i can maybe see why. I said he went to blindside him. "Possibly hurt" part would be unintentional consequence of that blindsides hit that he sprinted to deliver. I believe he went for the ribs. Knee was just unintended contact that could have ended much worse. That's in my opinion.

As for point #2, i spoke from my personal experience and how i reacted. Therefore i understand how Jokic reacted. Are there options to react differently? Absolutely. There always are. But can you hold back in situations like that? Have you? If you have, then great you are better man than i am. But if you have never been in such situation then its easy to say what should have been done. But im sure majority people here also know whats right or wrong. We all know this shouldnt have happened from either side. But once the ball is rolling, its hard, almsot impossible to stop. Especially when you see someone who is physically inferior to you trying to pull that off.

[Texas Chuck]

As for point #2, i spoke from my personal experience and how i reacted. Therefore i understand how Jokic reacted. Are there options to react differently? Absolutely. There always are. But can you hold back in situations like that? Have you? If you have, then great you are better man than i am. But if you have never been in such situation then its easy to say what should have been done.

I'm a lot like you actually. I'm a peacemaker by nature on the basketball court. Trying to diffuse tensions with humor, always the step in between 2 dudes guy. I'm never there to fight and were I to get in one, my ass is probably getting kicked if I'm honest. I don't know how to fight. I'm a grown man and its been a long time since middle school.

But also like you I have a breaking point. I'm not at all saying I wouldn't have reacted really poorly in Jokic's shoes. I might have totally lost it. Or I might have turned at pointed at the scoreboard while laughing at Morris. Or I might have had choice words waiting for the hold me back guys to protect me. IDK.

But what I might or might not do is only relevant for me.

[sip]

Lots of people acting high and mighty, ignoring one side and focusing on the other. I challenge anyone to put themselves in either players shoes before responding.

1. If you were Morris, would you sprint across court to blindside biggest guy on the court, possible injurying him, and just turn around expecting nothing will come out of it?

2. If you were Jokic and just got blindesided, would you ignore it?

If you dont answer either of those questions truly, you are not assessing the entire situation correctly.

But what if your assumptions are flawed?

1. I still am not remotely convinced Morris was trying to injure Jokic. People keep highlighting the knee because its central to that case, but I've watched it a bunch and the knee contact appears quite incidental. Morris was upset about something and took a hard needless foul. But I just don't believe because he and his brother have a history of a few plays in thousands of NBA minutes that every time they are involved in something its them trying to injure someone.

2. Are there not other options between ignoring it and what he chose to do? Why is this being presented as either we must admit we would react exactly like Joker did or we are just "high and mighty"? Is there no level of nuance? No other actions we could have taken that don't require us to turn the other cheek or react as violently as Jokic?

You are trying to set a very limited framework and then tell everyone else not willing to accept your assumptions that we can't assess the situation correctly? Nah man.

And I hate that I have to keep doing this, but let me do it anyway--I'm not saying your assumption about Morris is wrong. He might have intentionally gone knee to knee and hoped to injure Joker. I don't personally believe it, but you are welcome to. But me(or others) choosing to think otherwise isn't about being high and mighty or defending Morris or being unable to assess situations.

His assumptions are flawed.

It was a take foul situation. Morris didn't run to blindside Jokic. He hustled to give a foul and stop the clock. HIs foul was aggressive and by definition, flagrant. I don't see intent to harm in it though. That said, if people look at Morris's history and see it that way, that's not an unreasonable stance. Morris's intent is still up for debate. We'll never know.

It wasn't a take foul situation. What a strange comment. Are the heat planning to come back from 17 points down in under 3 minutes by fouling a good free throw shooter?

Sent from my SM-G988U using RealGM mobile app

[Texas Chuck]

]It wasn't a take foul situation. What a strange comment. Are the heat planning to come back from 17 points down in under 3 minutes by fouling a good free throw shooter?

Sent from my SM-G988U using RealGM mobile app

Technically it is a take foul. It's an intentional foul given to stop the action. The purpose wasn't to stop the clock or stop a transition opportunity, but its still technically a take foul. And I don't think anyone is using that term in an effort to excuse or minimize or legitimize Morris foul there.

[Synciere]

It wasn't a take foul situation. What a strange comment. Are the heat planning to come back from 17 points down in under 3 minutes by fouling a good free throw shooter?

Sent from my SM-G988U using RealGM mobile app

As I mentioned earlier and you clearly missed, those aren't the only take foul situations. Sometimes a coach will call that to get the scrubs in when the game is out of hand and he wants to let subs in.

[Grumpy Heat Fan]

None of my posts excuse Morris.

By all means, hand down any punishment for his hard foul.

But the point is, Jokic, in a fit of uncontrolled rage, violently attacked another player during a dead ball because he took offense to a hard foul.

THAT warrants a serious lengthy suspension, as it has no place in sports. The fact he got only 1 game shows Silver is handling him with baby gloves and jeopardizing the integrity of the game.


And Jokic is no saint, as he has a history of hard fouls too and being unable to control his temper.

[Sakkreth]

I'd suspend only Morris. With no initiation, there is nothing happening at all

[Lalouie]

"not sure what set jokic off....."

lol

[Cubbies2120]

It wasn't a take foul situation. What a strange comment. Are the heat planning to come back from 17 points down in under 3 minutes by fouling a good free throw shooter?

Sent from my SM-G988U using RealGM mobile app

As I mentioned earlier and you clearly missed, those aren't the only take foul situations. Sometimes a coach will call that to get the scrubs in when the game is out of hand and he wants to let subs in.

And in 99.9% of situations, a take foul leads with the hand (palm).

In dirty plays, a player leads with the knee and elbow.

There was no need for Morris to go with the Madden hit-stick

[Woodsanity]

None of my posts excuse Morris.

By all means, hand down any punishment for his hard foul.

But the point is, Jokic, in a fit of uncontrolled rage, violently attacked another player during a dead ball because he took offense to a hard foul.

THAT warrants a serious lengthy suspension, as it has no place in sports. The fact he got only 1 game shows Silver is handling him with baby gloves and jeopardizing the integrity of the game.


And Jokic is no saint, as he has a history of hard fouls too and being unable to control his temper.

Its the exact same punishment as the Beverley on CP3 shove and that was even worse considering CP3 did absolutely nothing while Morris was the clear instigator but yea sure baby gloves. Not like there is no precedent.

[Cubbies2120]

Read on Twitter

From top left:
1. Good contest
2. Even with blurry picture you can see there's no contact to face...
3. Too blurry, looks like hand is between face and right arm
4. His hand is behind the player?

Let's find some evidence that wasn't taken with a potato.

[Cubbies2120]

None of my posts excuse Morris.

By all means, hand down any punishment for his hard foul.

But the point is, Jokic, in a fit of uncontrolled rage, violently attacked another player during a dead ball because he took offense to a hard foul.

THAT warrants a serious lengthy suspension, as it has no place in sports. The fact he got only 1 game shows Silver is handling him with baby gloves and jeopardizing the integrity of the game.


And Jokic is no saint, as he has a history of hard fouls too and being unable to control his temper.

Its the exact same punishment as the Beverley on CP3 shove and that was even worse considering CP3 did absolutely nothing while Morris was the clear instigator but yea sure baby gloves. Not like there is no precedent.

Yeah, but CP3 doesn't play for his team, and hence this is worse.

[BelgradeNugget]

Read on Twitter

From top left:
1. Good contest
2. Even with blurry picture you can see there's no contact to face...
3. Too blurry, looks like hand is between face and right arm
4. His hand is behind the player?

Let's find some evidence that wasn't taken with a potato.

But you can see Jokic get hit in the face in 2:35, in the head at 2:56, 3:44.

Watch on YouTube

;t=105s[/quote]

[ATLTimekeeper]

Morris is the Oakland cop that got into it with Masai Ujiri, right down to faking whiplash.

[xAIRNESSx]

I like Shaq's take.

Read on Twitter

[BelgradeNugget]

]It wasn't a take foul situation. What a strange comment. Are the heat planning to come back from 17 points down in under 3 minutes by fouling a good free throw shooter?

Sent from my SM-G988U using RealGM mobile app

Technically it is a take foul. It's an intentional foul given to stop the action. The purpose wasn't to stop the clock or stop a transition opportunity, but its still technically a take foul. And I don't think anyone is using that term in an effort to excuse or minimize or legitimize Morris foul there.

Technically Jokic bumped Morris in the back and shoulder. Happens a lot in the NBA. Right?

[Lalouie]

doesn't jokic's dad lift cars or something for a living???