One play during Game 3 of the Trail Blazers-Nuggets Western Conference semifinals series that got lost in the shuffle during the 4-overtime marathon game came between Nuggets' Nikola Jokic and Trail Blazers' Enes Kanter.
Jokic threw an elbow at Kanter's injured left shoulder — and Kanter spoke out about the move on social media after the game. He tagged the NBA referees' official Twitter account with the caption: "Take a freaking look at this please."
Take a freaking look at this please @OfficialNBARefs @NBAOfficial pic.twitter.com/pBtR51ycLi
— Enes Kanter (@Enes_Kanter) May 4, 2019
Obviously, Kanter was upset with the play but Portland coach Terry Stotts also took offense to it.
“Yes, I have seen it and I think it was uncalled for,” Stotts told reporters Saturday (via Yahoo Sports). “I don’t know if the league will review it or not, but I certainly didn’t approve of it.”
It's not clear if the league has reviewed the play, but it can retroactively give technical or flagrant fouls if it sees fit.
Nuggets coach Michael Malone, however, said he disagrees with Stotts and he didn't see anything wrong with Jokic throwing an elbow.
"Normal play," Malone said. "I think Terry is off base there. Personally, I don't think it was anything malicious. Just like some of their screens in the first two games, I don't think there was anything malicious to it — with Kanter getting tossed into Torrey Craig. This is the playoffs. We're all big boys, let's go out and play the game accordingly.
"I have known Nikola Jokic for four years," Malone added. "He doesn't have that kind of personality, he doesn't have that DNA gene where he's going to go out there and make nonbasketball plays and try to hurt anybody or do anything that is beyond the limits of what is sportsmanship and what is not sportsmanship. So I would definitely not agree with Terry's assessment."
Kanter has been dealing with a shoulder injury since Game 5 of Portland's first-round series against the Thunder. He revealed after Friday's game that he believes he separated his shoulder even more.