The NBA playoffs briefly mirrored their NHL counterparts as Saturday’s Denver Nuggets-Los Angeles Clippers thriller nearly erupted into an all-out brawl before halftime at the Intuit Dome.
LA’s James Harden went jaw to jaw with Denver swingman Christian Braun before shoving Nuggets star Nikola Jokic and being chased down by their teammate, Aaron Gordon.
Ultimately, with some help from 7-foot Clippers center Ivica Zubac, officials were able to quiet down the near-melee.
Best of all, no ejections were necessary as both Gordon and Harden received offsetting technical fouls. In total, six players received techs, including Norman Powell and Kris Dunn of the Clippers, as well as Jokic and Braun.
Official crew chief Zach Zarba and his team of Sean Wright, Nick Buchert and Scott Twardoski got a round of congratulations for containing the violence without being overhanded in their response.
‘Referees did a good job,’ TNT’s Charles Barkley said at halftime, where the Nuggets held a tenuous 50-48 lead with a 2-1 series lead in the first round of the NBA Playoffs.
James Harden #1 and Ivica Zubac #40 of the LA Clippers get into a skirmish with Aaron Gordon #32 of the Denver Nuggets, Nikola Jokic #15, and Christian Braun #0 of the Denver Nuggets
Nuggets guard Christian Braun, left, and Clippers guard James Harden square up in LA
Aaron Gordon of the Denver Nuggets dunks the game-winning basket at the end of Game 4
The wild near-brawl momentarily looked like something much more serious – particularly as Gordon fought around several other players to go after Harden. In fact, angry Clippers fans began chanting ‘Kick him out!’ in reference to Gordon.
Of course, basketball has changed considerably since the grittier 1990s, so color commentator and Hall of Famer Reggie Miller was dismissive of the entire incident.
‘This is nothing, guys,’ Miller said. ‘This is nothing… Just because bodies are moving, people are getting a little bit up in arms.’
The TNT studio show blamed both Harden and Gordon, the latter of whom, ‘needs to be smarter,’ according to Barkley.
Gordon would have the night’s last laugh by throwing down the game-winning putback off a Jokic miss at the buzzer.
The trilling final play was upheld by review after Gordon’s walk-off dunk in the 101-99 win, which evened the first-round series at two games apiece.
