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As Game 4 between the Los Angeles Clippers and Denver Nuggets approached the end of the second half, James Harden and Aaron Gordon got into it, as well as Nikola Jokic.
Harden confronted Nuggets forward Christian Braun after a foul. Then, Gordon came up to Harden, and the latter pushed him. After that, it began a shoving frenzy.
James Harden didn’t like Christian Braun’s foul and the Clippers and Nuggets go at it pic.twitter.com/Fxq8brOK2H
— Tomer Azarly (@TomerAzarly) April 26, 2025
As a result, there were six technical fouls during the altercation. All of them were offsetting and the Clippers crowd was not pleased. They wanted Gordon to be ejected.
However, the officiating crew deemed that there was nothing worth an ejection. It garnered the applause of the announcing crew, as well as the Inside the NBA crew.
They allowed the intensity of playoff basketball to exist. Tensions will fly and flare up. However, there were no punches thrown between any player.
This has been a recurring theme throughout the series though. Both teams have been extremely physical, and the intensity has flared.
Not to mention, Russell Westbrook is playing his former team. He made some comments about them following the Nuggets Game 1 win against the Clippers.
That alone is only a microcosm of the series.
Clippers and Nuggets Game 4 is full of technical fouls
An interesting note is that this officiating crew was also a part of the Detroit Pistons and New York Knicks Game 3 scuffle. A similar instance happened, and they managed to calm the tension.
The same thing happened at the Intuit Dome on Saturday.
Plus, any ejections would've truly put a dampen on a major game. Los Angeles is up 2-1 in the series, and could cement the series with a win.
On the flip side, the Nuggets are hoping to even the score in front of the rowdy Clippers crowd. However, Westbrook is out for the Nuggets, which makes matters even more interesting.
Furthermore, Michael Porter Jr is playing through a shoulder injury.
All the while, it's proving that Denver is playing desperate and with a sense of urgency. The back is against the wall, and tension and intensity will be at a high.
Luckily though, the officials understood that and didn't eliminate that from the contest.
However, as the game goes along, there might be more of the same. Regardless if there's incidental contact or not that results in a technical foul, some interesting things can happen.
If one of those six players picks up another technical foul, they are automatically ejected.
That might be a point of emphasis for both teams, despite the intensity being at an all-time high.
