Malone doubles down on blaming Suns owner Ishbia for Jokic fray

DENVER—The unique and bizarre back-and-forth between Phoenix Suns owner Mat Ishbia and Denver Nuggets star Nikola Jokic is the talk of the sports world Monday morning.

And a day after Michael Malone blamed Ishbia for holding onto the ball and impeding the second-quarter play on Sunday, the Nuggets coach doubled down on his take. He backed Nikola Jokic, who wondered if the league was going to protect him against a fan, no matter that person’s stature. While Ishbia took no blame, he did express on Monday that he did not want Jokic to be suspended.

“I was hoping they’d give him a flopping violation. That’s the only fine I could imagine,” Malone joked during the Nuggets media availability on Monday.

Denver didn’t officially practice ahead of Tuesday’s Game 5 so nobody else talked to the media.

“I have no idea, I don’t deal with the NBA on those matters, that’s something our front office would be dealing with, I have no idea if anything is going on with that,” Malone said. “I’m worried about helping our guys win Game 5.”

But before Malone signed off he backed the two-time MVP big-time, making it clear he felt the way Ishbia was a joke.

“As Nikola said that’s not an owner, that’s a fan, we don’t designate who is in the stands,” Malone stated. “I felt after watching that whole incident that Nikola was just trying to get the ball. The embellishment was almost comical to me.”

Malone didn’t blame the incident on the narrow loss for his Nuggets, saying the team needed to make more open shots and slow Suns star Devin Booker.

We will bring you the latest at Denver Sports on this developing story, including what the possible ramifications for Jokic may be. Make sure to check back in.

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