On Monday, Denver Nuggets center, Nikola Jokic, blindsided Miami Heat forward, Markieff Morris with an elbow to his back after a hard foul committed by Morris. Many people are wondering, who is in the wrong?

This started when Jokic blocked Bam Adebayo and Markieff Morris was upset there wasn't a foul called. Morris then ran up and threw a hard elbow into Jokic’s ribs. It may not have looked too hard, but keep in mind that Jokic is 6’11” and 284 lbs. Obviously, this upset Jokic and he retaliated by throwing an elbow into the back of Morris while he was turned around. The Heat bench quickly cleared and players on the court ran to Jokic, shoving and yelling at him. Jimmy Butler was caught saying “Bring your *** to the back”, to a player on the Nuggets bench.

Rightfully, many players were upset on both sides. Morris started with the hard foul and Jokic retaliated. Yes, I agree that Jokic shouldn’t have fouled Morris like that, but I also agree that Morris had it coming with that kind of foul on Jokic. In the NBA, there are many intentional fouls and sometimes players foul hard. Most of the time, “hard intentional fouls” are just rough bear hugs on the opposing player, not an elbow to the ribs.

The two teams face off again 11/29 in Miami.