La Phoenix Suns win and the consequent Denver Nuggets elimination of the playoffs4-0) was marked by the expulsion of the brand new NBA MVPNikola Jokic With 3:52 left in the third quarter, leaving the Colorado team without offensive reference.
Serbian blow in the face of Cameron Payne and faced Devin Booker, who faced Jokic after the foul committed on his partner. The referees punished both players with a technique and to the pvot of the Nuggets with a flagrant fault type 2 which ended up taking him to the locker room before the end of the match.
Hit you? I don’t know. I apologize if I did it because I did not want to injure you
Nikola Jokic
Jokic, who after the scuffle with Booker took an interest in Payne, said after the game that he did not want to harm the Suns player and that all he wanted was to turn on his team: “He was trying to change the pace of the game. I wanted to give us some energy. I tried to make a hard foul. Hit you? I don’t know. I apologize if I did it because I didn’t want to hurt or hit you in the face on purpose. “
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Moment of the confrontation between Nikola Jokic and Devin BookerAP
For his part, Booker also wanted to defuse the issue after having faced Jokic moments after the foul: “It was an emotional move. I don’t think I wanted to hurt. It was a foul fruit of frustration and I went to defend my partner. That was it. Then I saw him go for Cam [Payne] and apologize. I have played against the ‘Joker’ many times and I know that he is a player without evil. “
Mike Malone, a coach for the Nuggets, also spoke of the foul that ended Denver’s season and sent a message against the umpire decision: it was going to be a blatant Type 2 expulsion because she was trying to play the ball. There’s marginal contact with Payne’s nose, I think. I was shocked because they pointed to type 2 and expelled the MVP on that play “.
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