Los Angeles Lakers forward Julius Randle said after Tuesday's win over the Denver Nuggets that fellow up-and-coming star Nikola Jokic tried to intentionally injure him.
The incident occurred in the final minute of the game as the Nuggets brought the ball down the court. Jokic ran toward Randle, who was standing at the free-throw line, and Randle shoved him to the ground. Jokic bounced up and confronted Randle in what was yet another heated moment between these two teams.
Asked to explain the incident after the game, Randle said, "He was coming down flailing, flopping his arms and stuff. That's fine, that's this game. But when you hook my arm and try to pull my shoulder out of place, I don't like that."
This was the fourth and final meeting of the season for these two teams, who clearly have some animosity toward each other.
After the third game of the season series, which took place on Friday and ended in a Nuggets victory, Lakers coach Luke Walton called out Denver guard Jamal Murray for being "disrespectful" and "trash talking."
In Denver's win over Los Angeles in December, Murray went out of his way to dribble past Lakers guard Lonzo Ball as time expired. He was quickly fouled by Randle and Lakers forward Brandon Ingram, and Murray and Randle exchanged words.
Ball went on to call Murray's antics a "punk move."
Follow USA TODAY Sports' AJ Neuharth-Keusch on Twitter @tweetAJNK
