Jusuf Nurkic saw one positive to being hit in the head by Draymond Green on Tuesday night in Phoenix.
“What’s going on with him? I don’t know. Personally, I feel like that brother needed help,” Nurkic said after Green was ejected in the Suns’ 119-116 win over the Warriors.
“I’m glad he [did] not try to choke me.”
Yes, being hit hard in the face is probably preferable to being choked and it’s a sad commentary on Green’s season that his 2023 highlights so far feature him choking Rudy Gobert and now jabbing Nurkic as if he was Rocky Balboa.
During the third quarter of Tuesday’s game with the Warriors nursing a 65-60 lead, Nurkic guarded Green from behind when the Warriors star tried to create separation.
But with Green, it’s never quite that simple.
Green spun to his left — doing a full 360 — and openly hit Nurkic in the face with his right hand, knocking the 7-footer to the court.
The referees then tagged Green with a flagrant 2 foul and ejected him, and he surely faces another suspension and hefty fine after his third ejection of the season.
His second ejection in November earned him a five-game suspension when he grabbed Gobert from behind and threw him in a sleeper hold that would have made the late Roddy Piper proud.
“At the same time, ain’t nothing to do with basketball, man. I’m just out there trying to play basketball, he’s out there swinging,” Nurkic said. “I think we saw that often. I hope he … whatever he got in his life, it gets better.”
Green apologized to Nurkic and insists he did not mean to hit him.
“I am not one to apologize for things I mean to do, but I do apologize to Jusuf because I didn’t intend to hit him,” Green said. “I sell calls with my arms, I don’t fall to sell a call, I’m not a flopper, so I was just selling the call because he was grabbing and pulling my hip, so I swung and unfortunately I hit him.
“I apologized to Jusuf because I didn’t intend to hit him.”
He added: “I also don’t think I’m an accurate enough puncher to do a full 360 and connect with someone. It’s unfortunate.”
With Green out of the lineup, the Suns rallied for a 119-116 victory.
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