Friday was fight night between the Suns and Mavericks.
Phoenix center Jusuf Nurkic and Dallas wing Naji Marshall forward/guard came to blows and were ejected during the Mavericks’ 98-89 win at Footprint Center.
Things came to a head early in the third quarter when Nurkic was called for an offensive foul, sending the Mavericks’ Daniel Gafford to the floor inside the paint.
After a few moments, Nurkic and Marshall converged, with the former slapping Marshall on the noggin before Marshall punched his opponent up high.
P.J. Washington also shoved Nurkic in the middle of all this, sending him tumbling back near mid-court.
Officials then stepped in to prevent the teams from doing any further damage.
When all was said and done, all three players were ejected from the contest.
Suns coach Mike Budenholzer was not pleased with how things turned out.
“I think that level of altercation is not good for our team,” he said after the game. “It’s not good for anybody individually, it’s not good for our league.”
Mavericks coach Jason Kidd saw it a different way, saying he was happy with how his players protected themselves.
“They were protecting each other. That’s what that was,” Kidd said, according to the Dallas Morning News. Emotions can get high. For our guys to protect each other, we talk about it and it was displayed tonight.
Suns rookie Ryan Dunn told reporters after the game that Nurkic and Marshall were talking with one another after the original offense foul before things got physical.
“I think it was just the heat of the moment, they were chipping back and forth,” Dunn said. “Heat of the moment we’re here for Nurk.”
Dunn clarified why he was in de-escalation mode and not trying to add to the fray.
“I’m a rookie, I don’t have enough money to be getting fined $5,000,” he said with a laugh. “I can’t throw a punch, but just trying to de-escalate it.”