{"id":294347,"date":"2023-05-08T08:31:14","date_gmt":"2023-05-08T08:31:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=294347"},"modified":"2023-05-08T10:59:03","modified_gmt":"2023-05-08T10:59:03","slug":"nba-star-fumes-after-fiery-clash-with-team-owner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=294347","title":{"rendered":"NBA star fumes after fiery clash with team owner"},"content":{"rendered":"

Denver Nuggets<\/a> All-Star centre Nikola Jokic<\/a> was assessed a technical foul in the second quarter of game four after an altercation with Phoenix Suns<\/a> owner Mat Ishbia.<\/p>\n

Late in the second quarter, Suns guard Josh Okogie crashed into the seats while trying to save a loose ball. He landed in a group of fans on the baseline that included Ishbia, who grabbed the basketball.<\/p>\n

Jokic was trying to get the basketball quickly \u2014 apparently so the Nuggets could start their offensive possession \u2014 when he tried to take the ball away from Ishbia. The ball flew backward into the crowd, and then Ishbia was knocked backward by Jokic's elbow.<\/p>\n

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Jokic was unapologetic after the game, which the Suns won 129-124.<\/p>\n

\"PHOENIX,<\/p>\n

\u201cThe fan put the hand on me first,\u201d Jokic said.<\/p>\n

"I thought the league was supposed to protect us. Maybe I am wrong. I know who he is, but he is a fan. Isn\u2019t he?"<\/p>\n

Nuggets coach Michael Malone said, \u201c(Jokic) is going to get the ball and some fan is holding onto the ball like he wants to be part of the game. Just give the ball up, man".<\/p>\n

https:\/\/twitter.com\/MagicJohnson\/status\/1655403866899488772<\/a>https:\/\/twitter.com\/Sam_Vecenie\/status\/1655402291716046849<\/a>https:\/\/twitter.com\/andrewbogut\/status\/1655398996679221251<\/a><\/p>\n

There were a few minutes of confusion as officials sorted out the weird scene, and then Jokic was assessed a technical foul.<\/p>\n

The Suns made the ensuing free throw.<\/p>\n

Suns star Devin Booker \u2014 who finished with 36 points and 12 assists \u2014 said he knew it was Ishbia in the middle of the fracas.<\/p>\n

\"PHOENIX,<\/p>\n

\u201cHe got us a point!\u201d Booker said with a grin.<\/p>\n

Ishbia told The Associated Press at half-time that he was \u201cfine\u201d and more worried about the game than the altercation. He was back in his usual seats in the second half.<\/p>\n

The tiff didn't seem to bother Jokic either \u2014 the MVP runner-up finished with 53 points on 20-of-30 shooting.<\/p>\n

Ishbia has only been the Suns' owner for a few months, purchasing the team from the embattled Robert Sarver.<\/p>\n

Game five is on Wednesday afternoon (AEST) in Denver. The series is tied at two games each.<\/p>\n

For a daily dose of the best of the breaking news and exclusive content from Wide World of Sports, subscribe to our newsletter by<\/strong><\/em> clicking here<\/strong><\/em><\/a>!\u00a0<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Denver Nuggets All-Star centre Nikola Jokic was assessed a technical foul in the second quarter of game four after an altercation with Phoenix Suns owner […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":294349,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/294347"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=294347"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/294347\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":294354,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/294347\/revisions\/294354"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/294349"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=294347"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=294347"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=294347"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}