Did Marcus Morris Try To Injure Luka Doncic? (Video)
The Los Angeles Clippers and Dallas Mavericks have played an extremely chippy series through five games. Kristaps Porzingis was ejected in Game 1, Montrezl Harrell and Luka Doncic got into it in Game 3, and Patrick Beverley and Doncic had unpleasant words in Game 5.
But on Tuesday night, things seemed to be taken to a new level.
In the third quarter of a game that the Clippers were completely and thoroughly dominating, Marcus Morris was observed chasing Doncic down and seemingly stepping on his already-injured ankle. The move was controversial, to say the least.
Marcus Morris trying to step on Luka’s injured ankle ? 😐 pic.twitter.com/Tjfj9prRMz
— NBA Central (@TheNBACentral) August 26, 2020
From an alternate angle, the action doesn’t appear to be any better.
Better angle 😬 https://t.co/cten4yxiC3 pic.twitter.com/mHv1lAO7Rx
— NBA Central (@TheNBACentral) August 26, 2020
The full sequence of events still looks suspicious at best.
After the outing, Morris took to social media to defend his good name against accusations of the play being dirty in any capacity.
I play this game with a level of respect for myself and other players. To think I would try to injure somebody is crazy to me. 10 years going against the best. I stand on morals and hard work. I compete and leave it out there every game.
— Marcus Morris (@MookMorris2) August 26, 2020
“I play this game with a level of respect for myself and other players,” he wrote.
“To think I would try to injure somebody is crazy to me. 10 years going against the best. I stand on morals and hard work. I compete and leave it out there every game.”
Doncic, for his part, seemed unconvinced by Morris’ denial after his team’s loss.
“I have my own thoughts,” he said following Game 5. “I hope it wasn’t intentional. Tell me what you think.”
“I just hope it wasn’t intentional, but every person is going to have their own thoughts,” he continued. “Just move on from it.”
When Doncic was pressed on whether or not he wanted to speak to Morris about the incident, the 21-year-old said no.
“I don’t want to talk to him,” Doncic said.
“He’s just saying a lot of bad stuff to me all the game. I just don’t want to talk to him. I just want to move on. Like I say, everybody is going to have their own opinion. I just hope it wasn’t intentional. If that was intentional, that’s really bad.”
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Will NBA Suspend Marcus Morris?
The big question now is whether the NBA will take a harder look at what transpired on Tuesday night. If the league opts to review that particular of sequence events and ultimately deems Morris’ actions intentional in any form, a suspension would not be out of a the question.
Morris has been the one to defend Doncic for the majority of this series. If he were out for a Game 6 that Dallas must win in order to keep its season alive, that would obviously have massive ramifications for all parties involved.
As good as the Mavericks have been up to this point, a lot of their success has stemmed from Paul George being off his game. If he can replicate his Game 5 magic going forward, it is hard to see how Dallas can keep up. At that stage, the only thing that really could re-balance the odds would be Morris being kept out.
Game 6 between the Mavericks and Clippers is set to take place on Wednesday night at 6:00 pm.
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Charles Kruger has been credentialed to cover two Super Bowls, four NBA Finals, and one World Series. A 20-year veteran in the sports world, he has sources spanning the NBA, MLB, NFL, UFC and NASCAR. Currently residing in Los Angeles, Calif., he is Game 7’s go-to source for rumors surrounding the Lakers, Clippers and Dodgers.
