A suspension is coming for Nikola Jokic. This much we know.
But first, while we wait on the NBA’s ruling of Monday’s skirmish between Denver’s reigning MVP and Miami’s Markieff Morris, this question has suddenly emerged too: Who you taking in a battle royale between the Morris twins and Brothers Jokic?
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Yes, on this day where the news about Deron Williams being on Jake Paul’s boxing undercard became official, the Nuggets-Heat fisticuffs was all anyone wanted to talk about.
A quick review for anyone who may have logged off of Twitter last night…
- Not long after the game, Markieff’s twin brother, Clippers forward Marcus Morris, tweets about Jokic’s shove: “Waited til bro turned his back smh. Noted.”
- The next morning, Markieff follows with commentary of his own: “I love to see the hate! No doubt I took a hard foul which I always do but I’ve never hit a man with his back turned! Luckily we built different over here. I can take my licks and keep pushing. Joker 1 smooth 0 lol.”
Then up on the social media top rope, where Strahinja and Nemanja Jokic clearly decided to fight back in much the same way Nikola had before them, a flying elbow commenced from the Serbian brothers.
“You should leave this the way it is instead of publicly threatening our brother!,” the tweet from the account @JokicBrothers read. “Your brother made a dirty play first . If you want to make a step further be sure we will be waiting for you !! Jokic Brothers”
As Nuggets beat writer, Mike Singer of The Denver Post, reported, the brothers even took the extra step of text messaging him about their new account in order to publicly confirm the validity of the account that gained nearly 30,000 followers in the first six hours of existence. As an aside, it’s only a matter of time before they go after the @NBAonTNT account for calling Giannis Antetokounmpo the MVP a few weeks ago.
Nearly five hours later after the @JokicBrothers account was opened, the trash talk commenced with Marcus Morris.
“You got the right ones believe that!” Marcus wrote.
To which @JokicBrothers replied, “I don’t believe…I know that!”
Marcus, in a move that hopefully brings this all to a non-violent end, then tweeted, “Momma said don’t talk on social media no more! Well There you have it. I love you momma.”
Now before we go much further here, a quick bit of context about Nikola’s siblings. This isn’t just your run-of-the-mill case of brothers backing brothers.
Nemanja, who is 6-foot-6 and played basketball at the University of Detroit Mercy, has actually won low-level MMA fights in recent years (you can watch him obliterate a much smaller foe here, for example). And then there’s Strahinja, the much-bulkier brother who looks like a bad guy from a 007 movie and whose fiery ways were on display at a Nuggets-Suns game in June when this video of him went viral.
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The Morris twins have long been known as tough guys on the court. Translation: Neither side is known for backing down here. The league has no jurisdiction over the Jokic brothers not named Nikola, but they certainly have sway with the Morris twins. And needless to say, commissioner Adam Silver can’t be thrilled to see the back-and-forth that has ensued since the game came to an end.
You know who’s even less enthused by all of this, though? Michael Malone. This entire debacle with Miami unfolded just hours after the Nuggets coach announced the loss of Michael Porter Jr., the struggling small forward whose well-chronicled back problems have returned and have him out “for the foreseeable future.” Considering he was given a five-year max extension in late September, it’s less than ideal timing.
You’re already trying to survive without Jamal Murray, whose torn ACL suffered in April threatened to sidetrack this season from the start.And now, with Jokic having put up MVP-caliber numbers again to this point (25.4 points, 13.6 rebounds, 5.7 assists, 1.6 steals and one block per) while posting absurd net rating numbers (plus-14.8 when he’s on, minus-19.1 when he’s off), the Nuggets are faced with the terrifying prospect of playing without him. Denver (6-4) hosts Indiana on Wednesday, Atlanta on Friday and Portland on Sunday.
If nothing else, there’s this small solace for the Joker when it comes to all this acrimony: While it certainly looked as if the Heat’s Jimmy Butler was also coming for him during the chaos, when he could be seen yelling ‘Bring your ass to the back!’” and the Twitter folks deduced that he was challenging Nikola to a good, old-fashioned brawl, a source with knowledge of the situation said Butler was actually furious with Nuggets player development coach and former NBA player Stephen Graham.
That fight never unfolded, of course, in large part because Heat general manager Andy Elisburg was the hero everyone needed when the tensions were at their highest. As shown in this incredible photo from The Post, Elisburg — who has been Pat Riley’s right-hand man for more than two decades now — helped keep the Heat players in their proverbial corner in the aftermath.
It was all such a sordid scene, one that Silver must now sort out. Lest the beef between brothers rage on.
(Photo: Jamie Schwaberow/Getty Images)
