The hoops world was abuzz on Monday night when things got out of hand between reigning NBA MVP Nikola Jokic and Markieff Morris during the Nuggets-Heat game. Less than 24 hours later, Morris’ brother — LA Clippers big man Marcus Morris — is full-on Twitter beefing with Jokic’s brothers after commenting on the incident.
With just under three minutes left in the Nuggets-Heat affair, Jokic was bringing the ball up the floor when Markieff barreled into him for an unnecessarily hard foul. It was a bad look for the Miami center, but things got much worse just seconds later when Jokic body-checked Morris from behind as he was walking away.
The cheap shot caught the attention of the Clippers’ Morris, who subsequently tweeted, “Waited till bro turned his back smh. NOTED.”
Reaction to Marcus’ tweet was mixed, but there were two people who definitely didn’t appreciate the sentiment. Namely, the Nuggets star’s very large, very imposing brothers, Strahinja and Nemanja Jokic. Nikola’s brothers were so taken aback by what they considered a veiled threat by Marcus that they apparently created a Twitter account just to respond.
Jokic Bros. Fire Back
On Tuesday morning, the Twitter account @JokicBrothers responded to Marcus’ tweet with the following:
You should leave this the way it is instead of publicly threatening our brother! Your brother made a dirty play first. If you want to make a step further be sure we will be waiting for you!! Jokic Brothers
At first, fans were skeptical that the account actually belonged to Strahinja and/or Nemanja. However, the Denver Post’s Mike Singer later indicated that the message was 100% legit. “Just got a text from Jokic’s brother,” he tweeted. “This is their real account responding to Marcus Morris’s tweet last night.”
For his part, Markieff seemingly came out of the scuffle no worse for wear, despite having remained on the court for several minutes after Jokic hit him. He fired off a tweet of his own, too, in the wake of his brother’s back-and-forth with the Jokic Bros:
I love to see the hate! No doubt I took a hard foul which I always do but I’ve never hit a man with his back turned! Luckily we built different over here. I can take my licks and keep pushing. Joker 1 smooth 0 lol.
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The Latest on Morris’ Injury
Morris hasn’t appeared on the court for the Clippers since an October 23 game against the Memphis Grizzlies — Los Angeles’ second game of the season. Since that time, he has been out of commission due to left knee conditioning.
That’s the same left knee that kept him out for most of the preseason. Moreover, Morris has been plagued by knee issues at various junctures throughout his career.
As relayed by All Clippers’ Farbod Esnaashari, Morris will continue to be out when the team takes on Damian Lillard and the Portland Trail Blazers on Tuesday night. His latest DNP will mark the eighth consecutive game that Los Angeles has been without its starting power forward.
The Clippers have been tight-lipped about how close he is to playing, but his next opportunity to do so will be on Thursday against the Markieff’s Heat.
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Clippers Big Man Twitter Beefing With Jokic Bros