Denver Nuggets star Nikola Jokic’s stunning display against Phoenix Suns was completely overshadowed by his clash with the latter’s owner Mat Ishbia.

Riding on Devin Booker and Kevin Durant’s impressive displays, the Suns beat the Nuggets 129-124 on Sunday to even their Western Conference semifinal playoff series at two games each. Booker scored 36 points and registered 12 assists while Durant also scored 36 points. The series will now return to Denver for Game 5 on Tuesday (May 9).

Talking about Nikola Jokic’s performance, the Nuggets star came up with a fine performance. While his team ended up on the wrong side of the result, he came up with another stunning performance. The MVP runner-up scored 53 points on 20-of-30 shooting. The two-time NBA MVP also registered 11 assists.

Nikola Jokic on his fight with Mat Ishbia:

Nikola Jokic’s performance, however, was overshadowed by his tussle with Mat Ishbia. The incident took place during the second quarter when Suns guard Josh Okogie stumbled into the seats while chasing the ball. In the meantime, Mat Ishbia grabbed the ball while Nikola Jokic tried to retrieve it.

Jokic managed to take the ball away from Ishbia but could not hold on to it. Visibly upset with the turn of events, the Serbian could not control his emotions and was seen elbowing Ishbia. The Suns owner was knocked backwards into his seat. Unsurprisingly, the Nuggets star was given a technical foul for the incident.

Here is a clip of the Nikola Jokic vs Mat Ishbia incident:

As the event unfolded, Jokic’s actions made many wonder whether he even knew who Ishbia was. And the way, Jokic explained the incident after the game, it is very clear that he did not really know about Ishbia. Defending his actions against Ishbia, the 28-year old said:

“He told me I was elbowing the fan, but the fan put his hands on me first. I thought the league is supposed to protect us. But maybe I’m wrong.”