Phoenix Suns star forward Kevin Durant let his emotions get the best of him during the Suns blowout Game 5 loss to the Denver Nuggets that saw Denver take a commanding 3-2 series lead as the series heads back to Phoenix for a do-or-die Game 6 for the Suns on Thursday.
Durant shoved Nuggets center Nikole Jokic during yet another feisty sideline confrontation that took as Jokic attempted to infiltrate an impromptu huddle among Suns players and coaches. As a result, Durant was called for a technical foul.
“It wasn’t anything serious,” Durant said, according to ESPN’s Tim MacMahon. “They were excited. They was up big, and we were trying to draw some stuff up. And you know how that goes. I don’t think it was nothing.”
Jokic has been dominant during the series and was dominant yet again during Game 5, as he posted a triple-double with 29 points, 13 rebounds and 12 assists.
Jokic spoke about the incident following the game.
“Just to see the play, I think that can help us a lot,” he said. “I mean, that’s what I was doing.”
“I mean, of course it’s the reaction,” Jokic said of the shove from Durant. “I don’t know why Bruce [Brown] reacted on that, because if he didn’t react, we are going to have [a technical free throw], and he reacted, so we didn’t have free throws. So actually, I’m blaming Bruce.”
Suns head coach Monty Williams called on the league to clean up the nonsense.
“The league has to figure out all that stuff, man,” Williams said. “There’s just too much silliness going on in the NBA when it comes to that. Everybody does it, and it should be like a written rule that you shouldn’t walk over to somebody’s huddle.”
