We could have stayed with a simple technical fault for “provocation”. Michael Porter Jr. had just placed a violent dunk, left hand, on Zach Collinsmidway through the third quarter between Spurs and Nuggets.
The Denver player did not fail to taunt his opponent, who came to meet him at the circle, staring at him insistently before returning to his half of the field. Except that Zach Collins came into contact, and jostled him from behind, before Michael Porter Jr. pushed the Spur away with a gesture of his hand at the level of the neck.
Assessment of the scene, which saw the camps of each party jump to separate the protagonists: a double technical fault for each, synonymous with expulsion for the two men.
“MPJ” thus left Nikola Jokic and the others with only 7 points on the clock. “ I think what happened is pretty clear. He got dunked on it. I turned my back on him and he came to take my head. (The referees) said I put my hand on his neck. But it’s a natural reaction. He’s lucky he didn’t get hit facing me. It was a split second reaction », describes the Nuggets player.
Natural or gesture, such a gesture could not but be sanctioned by the referees. Ditto for the warmongering attitude of the Spurs player. “ I pushed it away, I was ready (to figure it out?). I pushed back his chokehold, I was ready. He did a good action, he got me at the level of the circle. Then he started talking and I didn’t like it. So I ran into him », justifies Zach Collins (10 points and 9 rebounds), especially relieved that his team was able to win.
If we do not know the nature of what we imagine to be “trashtalking”, Jamal Murray, quickly coming into the middle of the fray, says he does not know why Zach Collins “ was so emotional. He got dunked on it and he started chattering. I have never seen anything like it. »
