The Miami Heat and Denver Nuggets got into an altercation towards the end of their game on Monday night after Nikola Jokic took a cheap shot at Markieff Morris.
After the incident, Jimmy Butler was seen yelling at the Nuggets bench. Many thought he was talking to Jokic and challenging the big man, but a new report indicates otherwise.
“If nothing else, there’s this small solace for the Joker when it comes to all this acrimony: While it certainly looked as if the Heat’s Jimmy Butler was also coming for him during the chaos, when he could be seen yelling, ‘Bring your ass to the back!’” and the Twitter folks deduced that he was challenging Nikola to a good, old-fashioned brawl, a source with knowledge of the situation said Butler was actually furious with Nuggets player development coach and former NBA player Stephen Graham,” wrote The Athletic’s Sam Amick.
One can only wonder what Graham did to get Butler so riled up. Nothing wound up happening between the two as security intervened when Heat players, led by Butler, wanted to confront the Nuggets following the game.
It’s going to be interesting to see if anything ends up happening between Graham and Butler on Nov. 29, which is when the Nuggets will travel to Miami to take on the Heat.
Although the Heat had a very lackluster performance in Monday’s loss, the team has started off this season 7-3, good enough to be tied for first place in the Eastern Conference.
Butler has been having a great season so far, averaging 25.3 points, 6.0 rebounds, 5.5 assists and 2.1 steals per game while shooting 53.0 percent from the field. He is looking like a prime MVP candidate early on.
The Heat’s next game will be on Wednesday night against the Los Angeles Lakers.