It was a rough night for Nikola Jokic on Sunday. First, he got hit hard in the face by Bobby Portis while defending a Portis drive. Then he got ejected from a close game with a little over three minutes left after screaming in the face of a ref after he thought he was fouled by Portis while converting a lay-up.
In his absence, the Nuggets folded and ended up losing to the Washington Wizards, a basketball team that oscillates between mediocre and bad. Portis and Jokic had been going at it all night long, and Portis certianly did his part in getting under Jokic’s skin to the point where Jokic eventually completely flipped his lid, resulting in said ejection.
Jokic’s two older brothers, Nemanja and Strahinja, were in the crowd in Washington, and apparently did not take kindly to Portis’ antics. As Portis and Jordan McRae left the floor following the Wizards 95-90 win, cameras captured the two Serbians yelling and pointing fingers in the two players’ direction. Portis and McRae yelled back, and looked to encourage the two brothers to meet them in the parking lot.
https://twitter.com/TheRenderNBA/status/1112588595569836032
Though Portis is not to be messed with in a fight (see Nikola Mirotic), avoiding a dustup with Jokic’s brothers was probably for the best. Jokic once said that the only person he’s ever been afraid of is Strahinja, because, in Jokic’s own words, “have you seen him?”
Hopefully tensions cooled and everyone only went to the parking lot to go home for the night after a tense game.
