The Western Conference Semifinals series between the Denver Nuggets and Phoenix Suns has been full of very entertaining basketball and this was certainly the case in Game 5 on Tuesday night. The Nuggets came away with another blowout victory at home, defeating the Suns 118-102, but it was what happened late in the third quarter between All-Stars Nikola Jokic and Kevin Durant that made headlines.
With just over 30 seconds remaining in the third, Suns' Devin Booker went to the free-throw line when Nuggets' Bruce Brown and Nikola Jokic approached Phoenix's bench to try and listen in to their huddle. Durant took exception to this and after exchanging words with Brown, Durant shoved Jokic and received a technical foul from the officials.
Kevin Durant shoves Nikola Jokic out of the Suns’ huddle 👀🍿 pic.twitter.com/xeHcNGj3Un
— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPointsApp) May 10, 2023
While he may have embellished Durant shoving him, Jokic did exactly what he set out to do and that was get under the skin of the Suns while they were already frustrated. Both Brown and Jokic knew exactly what they were doing in terms of trying to get a sneak peak at what Suns coach Monty Williams was drawing up after the game, the Nuggets' two-time MVP gave his thoughts on the matter.
“Just to see what they were drawing up, just to see the play. I mean, that is what I was doing. I mean, of course it's the reaction.” Jokic said in his postgame press conference in regards to the way Durant reacted. “I don't know why Bruce reacted on that because if he didn't react, we would have had free-throws and he reacted so we didn't have free-throws. Actually, I am blaming Bruce.”
While he was the one who got shoved by Durant's forearm, Jokic really did not make much of the matter, as he and Brown instigated the whole thing. Jokic joked around a lot with his postgame comments, so there does not appear to be any ill-will stemming from this altercation.
Coming off of his 53-point performance in Game 4, Nikola Jokic put together an all-around fantastic game on Tuesday night with 29 points, 13 rebounds and 12 assists. He now has four triple-doubles this postseason and ten triple-doubles in his postseason career, passing the great Wilt Chamberlain for the most playoff triple-doubles by a center in NBA history.
“It is a must-win for them and we need to have the mentality that it is a must-win for us,” Jokic said previewing Game 6, which will be played on Thursday in Phoenix. “We don't want to come back here for a Game 7 where anything can happen.”
Leading this series 3-2 heading back to Phoenix, the Nuggets are now one win away from reaching the Western Conference Finals for the second time since 2020.
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