Nikola Jokic added insult to injury after unintentionally bumping into head coach Scott Brooks in the last few seconds of a 109-104 loss to the Washington Wizards on Monday, as the Denver Nuggets fell to 1-2 in the season.
Jokic was clearly wiping the sweat off his eyes with his jersey collar pulled up to his face before he bumped Brooks, who headed in an opposite direction.
“Embellished” technical foul overshadows Nuggets’ loss (full reaction from Malone, Jokic, Brooks) – https://t.co/k5cTxexAVr pic.twitter.com/CWLLC7reA4
— Harrison Wind (@HarrisonWind) October 24, 2017
The Nuggets big man was hit with a technical foul after the fact, but noted the obvious after the game, saying he didn’t see the opposing coach coming his way. Jokic was shoved in the back by reserve center Ian Mahinmi on the previous play, as Jamal Murray hit a two-point jump shot to close the gap to two.
Before the technical foul, here’s Mahinmi shoving Jokic in the back. No call on this. pic.twitter.com/o2JtdZ18TS
— Harrison Wind (@HarrisonWind) October 24, 2017
Jokic bumped into Brooks following a Brooks timeout, who intended to grab John Wall’s attention as he spoke to a game official. The Serbian international
“I think when we scored and I’m looking at the referee because I think that was a foul, and then I think I try to look at the score, and then I hit the coach,” said Jokic.
Nikola Jokic says he never saw Scott Brooks coming. pic.twitter.com/EZ9hxwJuci
— Harrison Wind (@HarrisonWind) October 24, 2017
Bradley Beal took and made the technical free throw once Jokic was hit with the tech, taking 20 seconds off the shot clock before scoring a driving layup and extending the lead to five.
The league will surely review the incident, though it will be hard to prove intention given Jokic’s positioning and the massive weight difference between the 5-foot-11 Brooks and then 6-foot-10 Nuggets cornerstone center.