Markieff Morris made his long-awaited return to the court this week after a four-month absence.
The Miami Heat forward was hurt in a Nov. 8 showdown against the Denver Nuggets, when reigning league MVP Nikola Jokic delivered a dirty hit towards him while his back was turned.
Morris suffered a whiplash injury in the process, leading to him missing 58 games this season.
On Saturday night, Morris got back into the swing of things with six points and four rebounds in 17 minutes of action against the Minnesota Timberwolves.
Afterward, Morris sat down with the media and touched on a number of topics.
“For the first two weeks, I probably didn’t sleep just based off of that happening to me…f*** no, I don’t want to hear from [Nikola Jokic]. He did what he did. It is what it is.”
Markieff Morris speaks on returning to the Heat lineup for the first time since November pic.twitter.com/nCCPdErCmy
— Bally Sports Sun: HEAT (@BallyHEAT) March 13, 2022
“For the first two weeks, I probably didn’t sleep based on that happening to me and not being able to control the situation,” he said.
“One of the first times in my life I couldn’t control something… I moved past it. It took me a while. My grandfather called me a bunch of times and told me to move on. That’s what I did.”
When pressed on whether he wanted to hear from Jokic, Morris offered a particularly cold response.
“F*** no, I don’t want to hear from [Jokic],” Morris said. “He did what he did. It is what it is.”
The incident between Morris and Jokic nearly set off World War III. The latter’s crazy brothers wanted to whack one of Morris’ Heat teammates for disrespect; there were back and forth threats from the likes of Heat veteran Udonis Haslem; and of course there was the Jokic brothers openly mocking Morris and his entire family by partying it up in Miami without a concern in the world.
It was a crazy time.
Things have cooled considerably since then, though – and Morris’ return to the court seemingly signifies the end of all the dramatics.
Yikes. Horrific. https://t.co/kR6Yev06NN
— Game 7 (@game7__) March 12, 2022
That said, it will be interesting to see what happens when Morris and Jokic take the court together again.
Will drama pop off once more? Time will tell.
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A graduate from the University of Texas, Anthony Amador has been credentialed to cover the Houston Texans, Dallas Cowboys, San Antonio Spurs, Dallas Mavericks and high school games all over the Lone Star State. Currently, his primary beats are the NBA, MLB, NFL and UFC.
