We’d say to throw the book at Mat Ishbia, but who are we kidding? He’d probably just cradle the thing in his lap and refuse to give it back.
“As Nikola (Jokic) said, that’s not an owner in the stands,” Nuggets coach Michael Malone offered Monday during a brief media scrum when asked about Ishbia, the Suns’ handsy governor. “He’s a fan. I mean, we don’t designate who’s in the stands.”
If any other fan held onto a game ball and got all keep-away with the rock during a heated postseason game while a player was trying to retrieve it to restart the action, you know what happens? They’re escorted from the arena and banned for the rest of the series.
So if Joe Dumars, commissioner Adam Silver and the rest of the NBA wingtips really want to close the book on the case of Jokic v. Ishbia before Game 5 Tuesday night at Ball Arena, how ’bout this:
Either a) the Suns owner pays the Joker’s $25,000 fine as recompense for dragging us all down this rabbit hole to begin with; or b), the league fines Ishbia $25,000, everybody’s square, and life goes on.
But, hey, if Ishbia wants to put his money where his maw is and cover the fine the NBA threw at the Nuggets center late Monday afternoon, that works, too. When Bloomberg pegs your net worth at $9.04 billion, $25K is tip money.
In the meantime, thank goodness for common sense. Suspending Jokic over The Pushbia Incident was nothing but bunk and folly, the fever dream of Suns fans, networks who promote NBA games like they’re the fight card on WWE’s “Monday Night Raw” — KD versus LeBron! KD versus Steph and Klay! — and the haters in Philly who think the idea of winning gracefully is spitting a prone opponent in the chest instead of the eye.
And thank goodness we don’t have to dissect conspiracy theories. For its embrace by the under-40 crowd, its domination of social media and its almost Faustian relationship with ESPN, among the major four pro sports leagues in this country, the NBA also has the largest credibility problem. Especially where the playoffs are concerned.
Former ref Tim Donaghy let several cats out of several unseemly bags more than a decade ago, affirming long-held suspicions about game-fixing, make-up calls, favoritism for mega stars, the lot. As Doug Robinson of the Deseret News pointed out last fall, the louder the NBA screams to look away, the more suspicious a consumer ought to be.
Here come the Nuggets (again), messing up the narrative (again), daring to get in the way of one of the league’s best TV draws (Kevin Durant) and a potential dream fight card in the Western Conference finals. Now none of that has a darn thing to do with Denver’s inability to defend Devin Booker and Landry Shamet or to box out Jock (several expletives deleted) Landale, to be clear. But it’s worth keeping in the back of your head.
“I just felt after watching that whole incident,” Malone continued, “(that) Nikola was just trying to get the ball, you know what I mean?”
Bingo. True, Jokic also could’ve tried to retrieve the rock without acting like a wounded animal. Then again, remembering Robert’s rules of order in the heat of a game has never exactly been the Joker’s strong point.
That being said, for the league to suspend the Nuggets’ best player after the officials seemed ready to restore order and move on — again, Jokic wasn’t ejected — would show the league openly placating its least desirous accomplices: Twitter trolls and network executives.
If Joker doesn’t play, the series ends in Phoenix on Thursday night. It might anyway, but Jokic and the Nuggets figure to have a fair say in the matter first.
“(In Game 4), once again, we were 1 for 9 on wide-open threes,” Malone mused Monday. “And I know it’s an over-simplification that is often used (about) the NBA being a make-or-miss league. But if you’re going to win a game on the road, you can’t go 2 for 18 in wide-open threes.”
As for slowing down Booker, could it hurt to give 6-foot-7 guard Peyton Watson a crack? In two regular-season meetings with the Suns, the scorching Phoenix guard, per NBA.com tracking stats, went 2 for 4 from the floor and 0 for 2 while Watson was guarding him. Heck, Booker went 0-for-2 from the floor this season during the 5.8 regular-season possessions in which he had Nuggets reserve Ish Smith in front of him. Desperate times, desperate measures, yada, yada, yada.
Malone chucked the kitchen sink at Booker in Phoenix. The Suns sharpshooter responded by either shooting over it or passing out of it to an open Shamet or Terrence Ross.
If Michael Porter Jr., who’s averaging 12 points and 7 boards this series while shooting just 36% from beyond the arc, can get back into the flow, the Nuggs have got something. If nothing else, at least they’ve got Jokic.
“Well, I was hoping (the league would) give him a flopping charge,” Malone offered with a near smirk when asked about the Pushbia incident. “That’s probably the only fine I could imagine.”
The NBA’s max punishment for a flop: $30K.
Will that be cash or check, Mr. Ishbia?
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