
An ugly scene between Denver‘s Nikola Jokic and Miami’s Markieff Morris unfolded on Monday night.
Morris stopped a fast break with a hard foul on Jokic, who was leading the drive, at half court. As Morris was walking away, Jokic retaliated by bumping the Miami forward to the ground.
It was a hard hit by Jokic. So hard Morris laid on the ground for several minutes. The act itself almost started a brawl between both teams. The entire ordeal has been a major talking point within the NBA world ever since.
Shaquille O’Neal doesn’t believe Jokic did anything wrong. In fact, he thinks Morris got what he deserved.
“It’s called retaliation. First off, when you hit me don’t turn around … because I’m swinging. … I have no problem with what the Joker did. I actually like it as a big guy. You got these guys fouling on you, hanging on you. He hit him. Intentional. Unnecessary roughness. What do you do as a big guy? You go hit him back.”
It’s worth mentioning Shaq played in an entirely different era of basketball. Hard fouls were a part of the game. So were fights and retaliation. Those aren’t a big part of the game anymore.
Nikola Jokic clearly became frustrated with what appeared to be an over-the-top foul by Markieff Morris. It’s something Morris has grown a reputation for during his time in the NBA. It was only a matter of time before he paid the price for it, whether or not it was warranted.
Former NBA players like Shaq or even Charles Barkley had no issue with Jokic’s actions on Monday night. Younger generations would probably disagree. It’s simply a different style of basketball these days.