After Nikola Jokic shoved Markieff Morris, unchaining a scuffle on the court, a Twitter war between Marcus Morris and his brothers, the 2021 NBA MVP is still the talk of the town.
Jokic reacted after Morris took a cheap shot at him, shoving the Miami Heat player, who stayed on the floor for a couple of minutes. Every NBA fan saw that sequence and they noticed the same; a lot of players were close to The Joker and didn’t try to retaliate.
Tyler Herro, Jimmy Butler, Bam Adebayo and more were right next to Jokic but didn’t do anything, earning a lot of criticism. Former player-turned-analyst Isiah Thomas talked about Jokic’s toughness, saying that people don’t seem to know how tough this man is until they see him mad.
“One hit, then another,” Thomas said on NBA TV.
“I don’t think people realize how tough (Jokic) truly is. That’s no act. You see everybody ran up on him, and then they backed up off him.”
Isiah Thomas, of the Bad Boy Pistons, on the Nikola Jokic-Markieff Morris incident: "One hit, then another."
"I don't think people realize how tough (Jokic) truly is. That's no act. You see everybody ran up on him, and then they backed up off him." pic.twitter.com/52OhvzyTsK
— Harrison Wind (@HarrisonWind) November 9, 2021
Thomas knows a thing or two about cheap shots and toughness. He was part of the infamous Bad Boys Detroit Pistons and their physical style of play earned them a lot of hate from around the association.
Nikola Jokic was born in Serbian and that’s not an easy place. He had to fight hard to be where he is and even though he doesn’t speak a lot, The Joker is somebody you don’t want to mess with.
Besides, his brothers are always watching him and whoever tries to hurt him will need to go through Strahinja and Nemanja. Not only Nikola, but the entire Jokic Clan is tough and people don’t seem to realize that.
Jokic received a one-game suspension for his actions during Monday night game, while Markieff Morris and Jimmy Butler were fined for their participation in the altercation.
