On Wednesday night, the Portland Trail Blazers and Miami Heat played a contentious basketball game in Oregon. Late during the fourth quarter of a tight game, Blazers center Jusuf Nurkic and Heat guard Tyler Herro got into a physical altercation.
It was announced on Friday that the NBA has fined both players $25,000 for their roles in the fight, according to NBA correspondent Marc Stein:
Full NBA statement on the fines assessed to Portland’s Nurkic and Miami’s Herro “for their roles in an on-court altercation.” https://t.co/EZu6OmRJMD pic.twitter.com/1VoEYIiuwh
— Marc Stein (@TheSteinLine) January 7, 2022
Nurkic appeared to set a hard pick out beyond the 3-point line, sending Herro to the ground. Herro took exception and charged after Nurkic, shoving his forearm into his back from behind. Nurkic went back at Herro, attempting to shove him in the face with an open hand.
It did not look too dissimilar to what happened between Nikola Jokic and Markieff Morris. The biggest difference was that Herro was unable to create close to the same level of impact against the much bigger Nurkic:
— 🚁Sky Wob🚁 (@WorldWideWob) January 6, 2022
Both players received technicals and were ejected from the game, and there was a little action on social media afterward. Miami ended up getting the best of it by winning the game, 115-109. They did so without the services of leading scorer Jimmy Butler. The win improved the Heat's record to 24-15. They are only three games behind the Chicago Bulls for the top seed in the Eastern Conference. But the Brooklyn Nets and Milwaukee Bucks stand between them and the top as well.
Meanwhile, the loss dropped Portland to 14-23 on the season. Injuries to Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum have had a huge impact on the team's success thus far. The silver lining is that there are reports that both players could return this season.
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