Things got heated early on in Monday's Game 2 tilt between the Portland Trail Blazers and the Denver Nuggets. There was no love lost between Jusuf Nurkic and his former Nuggets teammates, as the Blazers big man featured in a heated scuffle at mid-court.
As both teams were heading to the bench during a timeout, it looks like Nurkic had a few things to say to someone from the Nuggets. It did not take long for others to get involved as players and personnel had to be separated following the intense encounter (h/t House of Highlights):
Nuggets and Blazers exchanged some words. 🍿 pic.twitter.com/idfK35f1K8
— House of Highlights (@HoHighlights) May 25, 2021
Blazers assistant coach Nate Tibbets was also in the thick of the action and he was clearly triggered by something the Nuggets said or did. Tibbets eventually got assessed with a technical foul, along with Nuggets star Michael Porter Jr:
Article Continues BelowSince the timeout at about 7:30 –
– 2 techs assessed (MPJ + Nate Tibbets)
– 1 Flagrant for Melo pic.twitter.com/2wvLuzdbto— AJ McCord (@AJ_McCord) May 25, 2021
For his part, Nurkic escaped the incident without being whistled for a tech. Nonetheless, it is clear that there is a bit of animosity between the Blazers center and a couple of players on the Nuggets in what has turned out to be an intense rematch between the two teams.
Nurkic started off his career in Denver. He spent the first two and a half years of his career with the Nuggets before he was shipped off to the Blazers via trade in 2017.