An ugly clash between Nikola Jokic and Markieff Morris has overshadowed the Denver Nuggets' NBA win over the Miami Heat, with both men ejected and furious Heat players trying to carry things on after the game.
With 2:39 remaining, Morris bumped Jokic in the midsection as the Nuggets star was throwing a pass from half-court.
Jokic retaliated with a hard shoulder into the back of an unsuspecting Morris, whose head snapped back as he fell to the floor.
Morris rolled on the floor in pain as teammates pushed Jokic away.
Medical personnel brought a stretcher onto the court but Morris was able to get up and walk off the floor on his own.
As things got heated, Heat star Jimmy Butler was on the sidelines, pointing at the Nuggets bench and urging NBA MVP Jokic to "bring that shit to the back [locker room], let's go".
The Heat players were still angry after the game, waiting in a corridor for Nuggets players to come back to the locker room.
The Heat said Morris suffered an apparent neck injury.
Jokic said he saw a replay of the altercation and recoiled when he saw how hard Morris hit the floor.
"I felt bad, really bad," Jokic said.
Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said they were still waiting to find out more about the severity of the injury, but that Morris was moving around in the locker room.
Morris was assessed with a flagrant foul and ejected, Jokic also was ejected and Butler received a technical foul.
Spoelstra said Jokic's actions were "absolutely uncalled for", but Jokic said Morris's initial hit went beyond a hard foul.
Jokic's teammate, Jeff Green, said it was "a play that shouldn't happen".
"I think Markieff just went and tried to make a hard foul. I don't think he had any intention of hurting Joker," he said.
"But sometimes when things like that happen, you don't know the intention of the other person and you just react and that's what Joker did."
AP/ABC
