The Phoenix Suns and Denver Nuggets are two very emotional, passionate teams that have been fighting with one another to try and reach the Western Conference Finals. On Tuesday night, the Nuggets came away with a 118-102 victory at home to take a 3-2 series lead, but the story from this game was what happened between Kevin Durant and Nikola Jokic.
Two of the top-tier players in the NBA, Durant and Jokic were involved in a small scuffle near the end of the third quarter when Jokic and his teammate Bruce Brown tried to get in the middle of a Suns' huddle. With Jokic attempting to listen in on what Phoenix was discussing, Durant shoved him away and received a technical foul in the process.
Kevin Durant shoves Nikola Jokic out of the Suns’ huddle 👀🍿 pic.twitter.com/xeHcNGj3Un
— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPointsApp) May 10, 2023
Already struggling to get things going, Durant and the Suns were clearly frustrated at this moment and both Jokic and Brown were trying to get under their skin even more. After the game, Kevin Durant shared his thoughts on the matter and discussed his perspective of the situation.
“Absolutely nothing. It wasn't anything serious,” Durant said in his postgame remarks. “They were excited. They were up big and we were trying to draw up some stuff and you know how that goes. I don't think it was nothing.”
Nikola Jokic shared a similar perspective on the situation and claimed that they were just trying to see the play that Monty Williams and the Suns coaching staff was drawing up. The Nuggets' star also seemed alright with Durant's reaction to what happened.
As for Williams, he seemed frustrated with what occurred between Jokic and Durant, stating that the league needs to “figure out all of that stuff.”
“There's just too much silliness going on in the NBA when it comes to that,” Monty Williams said in his postgame comments. “Everybody does it, and it should be like a written rule that you shouldn't walk over to somebody's huddle.”
Combining for 86 points in their Game 3 victory and then combining for 72 points in their Game 4 victory, Kevin Durant and Devin Booker combined for only 54 points in Tuesday night's loss. Not being able to find a rhythm for what felt like the entire game, the Suns' two stars will look to bounce-back in a big way heading into Game 6, a must-win game for them.
The Suns will host the Nuggets in this pivotal game on Thursday, as they try to extend the series and force a decisive Game 7 back in Denver.
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