After missing the Denver Nuggets’ last three games to welcome a new member to his family, Nikola Jokic finally returned to the hardwood for Friday Night’s NBA Cup games. However, his return wasn’t entirely pleasant after he got into a heated altercation with referee Scott Twardoski.
The incident occurred during the fourth quarter of the Nuggets 123-120 loss to the Dallas Mavericks. With the Nuggets down by four points and mere seconds left in the game, Jamal Murray drained a three-pointer to make it a 1-point game. However, while Murray was in the act of shooting, Nikola Jokic was jostling for rebounding position with Mavericks’ center Dereck Lively, which ended with Jokic on the floor.
Replays showed Lively clearly shoving Nikola Jokic in the back as Murray’s shot went up. However, the referees continued on with the play, deeming the contact to Jokic a no-call.
The Serbian big man was charged up following the sequence, especially as a foul on Lively would have given Jokic the opportunity to tie the game at the free-throw line.
Here are the events in order.
Needless to say, Jokic did not agree with the referee’s assessment that he flopped. pic.twitter.com/m83gTNqasb— Rob Perez (@WorldWideWob) November 23, 2024
As the Nuggets headed back on the defensive end, Jokic tried to speak to referee Scott Twardoski about the foul call calmly. However, Twardoski apparently asked Jokic not to flop, which triggered the 284-pound big man even more. Jokic aggressively charged towards Twardoski, as replays showed the Nuggets center visibly heated at the insinuation of him exaggerating the contact to sell a foul call.
Fans left puzzled after Nikola Jokic’s outrage at referee
Nikola Jokic is arguably the best player in the league and the reigning MVP. These accolades certainly come with some perks, as many fans pointed out after Jokic’s altercation with the game’s referees. Most players would receive a technical foul, if not an ejection from the game, for their aggression towards NBA refs. However, Jokic got away scot-free without even being charged a tech.
Fans were bewildered by the decision of the officiating group to not charge Jokic with a warning or a penalty after his fuming outburst at Scott Twardoski. Many took to X to call out the NBA and the game’s referees for ‘favoring’ Jokic by not handing out an obvious technical foul to him.
Any other player and this is a tech but since it’s jokic it’s fine pic.twitter.com/VzhGCMVShS
— John (@iam_johnw) November 23, 2024
This better blow up lmao how did they just let him get away with this. He straight up walked the ref down then for a second charged at him and no tech 💀
— Jahmeir D. ✭ (@JDCowboys2) November 23, 2024
When you’re the best player on the planet you get away with more this has been the case forever why cry about it
— Antonio (@ayyrod_) November 23, 2024
Literally anybody else does this and they get publicly executed
— ProCy☘️ (@_ProCy_) November 23, 2024
Literally anybody else does this and they get publicly executed
— ProCy☘️ (@_ProCy_) November 23, 2024
Luka does this shit and he gets 90 days in federal prison https://t.co/SeAs41r8GF
— Jo (@MavsStan41) November 23, 2024
They be scared to give him techs, his brothers would show up at their hotel w crowbars https://t.co/gX34MZMJut
— ♕ Morne Lalvo (@20Kylies) November 23, 2024
Mavericks fans especially complained about the ‘biased refereeing’ against them and their star player, Luka Doncic. Some also argued that the decision not to call a technical foul was a move to avoid compounding an obvious missed against Lively in the previous possession.
Unfortunately for Nuggets fans, even with the return of their 3x MVP, their fortunes did not change. They lost at home to a Mavericks team which missed their star player, Luka Doncic.
