Credit: Twitter
The Conference Semifinals between Denver Nuggets and Phoenix Suns on Sunday witnessed Devin Booker's side leveling the series 2-2 at the Footprint Center with a 129-124 victory, despite Nikola Jokic registering his playoff career-best 53 points. During the first half of Game 4, Jokic appeared to push the new Suns' owner, Mat Ishbiah and received a technical foul for his unsportsmanlike incident.
Phoenix Suns star duo of Devin Booker and Kevin Durant combined for 72 points to help their team level the series while Jamal Murray with 28 points followed Jokic's historic play, but failed to win and continue their lead before moving home.
With 2:36 left in the first half, Suns guard Josh Okogie fell in the stands while chasing a loose ball and Jokic went to retrieve the ball, which was in the hands of a fan. That fan occurred to be the Suns' owner, Mat Ishbiah, who acquired the team midseason from exiled owner Robert Sarver. While trying to take the ball, Jokic elbowed Ishbiah, which resulted in the Suns' owner tumbling into his seat and the Nuggets center receiving a tech.
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Apart from Jokic's technical foul, a fan was ejected from the game after he put his hand on Jokic during the incident with Ishbiah. Watch another angle of the incident:
After the game, Jokic talked to the media about the incident and said, " The fan put the hand on me first. I thought the league's supposed to protect us or whatever. So, but maybe I’m wrong."
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Jokic was asked if he knows the fan was the Suns owner, the two-time MVP said, " He’s a fan, isn’t he? He's sitting on the court, then he’s a fan, isn’t he? ... Whoever it is, he is a fan. He cannot influence the game holding the ball." Jokic was later asked if he was worried about any possible suspension or fine for the incident and he said, "His hand's on me. So they're not gonna protect me? They're gonna protect the fan?... I think he's supposed to get kicked out if he's influencing the game."