Markieff Morris explains his hard foul on Nikola Jokic: ‘I fouled because I’m a hard-nosed player’

Miami Heat forward Markieff Morris just returned to the court after months of being out with injury.

The neck injury, which occurred in an early season game versus the Denver Nuggets, resulted from a Nikola Jokic push that Morris was on the receiving end of.

Before the push, Morris had committed a hard foul on the reigning MVP.

Though Morris is surely happy to move on from the unfortunate event that saw him miss about four months of the season, he did take some time recently to explain his side of the story when it comes to his hard foul on Jokic.

“There’s some things that happen on the court that are between players and there’s respect between the lines,” Morris said of his foul that led to Jokic’s shove. “I fouled because I’m a hard-nosed player. I’m not giving up anything for free. I’m not fouling to try to hurt somebody. I’ve never been that guy. I got nothing but the utmost respect from players. They all know that. If I wanted to foul and hurt somebody, I would have done that.”

Nuggets fans may disagree with Morris’ take, but the veteran is surely happy to get a chance to discuss his side of the story.

Now, with Morris back on the court, the power forward is surely just looking to help his teammates in whatever way he can. In the 12 games that he has played this season, he’s averaged 7.7 points, 3.0 rebounds and 1.3 assists per game.

With the playoffs fast approaching, there’s little doubt that Morris will look to get into even better playing shape so that he can offer his toughness, veteran experience and championship pedigree to what is sure to be an exciting title pursuit by Miami.