{"id":1904411,"date":"2026-04-26T23:42:59","date_gmt":"2026-04-26T20:42:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1904411"},"modified":"2026-04-26T23:42:59","modified_gmt":"2026-04-26T20:42:59","slug":"nba-fines-nikola-jokic-julius-randle-for-nuggets-timberwolves-game-4-altercation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1904411","title":{"rendered":"NBA fines Nikola Joki\u0107, Julius Randle for Nuggets-Timberwolves Game 4 altercation"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Nikola Joki\u0107 was fined $50,000, and Julius Randle was fined $35,000 for their roles in an altercation between the Denver Nuggets and Minnesota Timberwovles at the end of Saturday\u2019s Game 4 in Minneapolis.<\/p>\n

The NBA announced the punishments Sunday, one day ahead of a potential closeout Game 5 on Monday night in Denver.<\/p>\n

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With 1.3 seconds left in Saturday\u2019s matchup, Joki\u0107 ran toward Jaden McDaniels after McDaniels chose to make an uncontested layup rather than dribble out the clock, giving the Timberwolves a 112-96 win and 3-1 series lead in the Western Conference first-round matchup.<\/p>\n

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Tempers flared on the sidelines in front of the Timberwolves\u2019 bench, but no punches were thrown. Aaron Gordon and Jonas Valan\u010di\u016bnas both left the Nuggets\u2019 bench and crossed half court during the altercation, while Minnesota\u2019s Rudy Gobert and Bones Hyland both stepped onto the court from the Wolves\u2019 bench. League rules state that players must \u201cremain in the vicinity of the bench\u201d during a on-court incident or be subject to an automatic suspension. However, none of those four players were punished.<\/p>\n

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Tensions were high at the end of Game 4 between the Nuggets and Timberwolves \ud83d\ude33<\/p>\n

Both Nikola Jokic and Julius Randle were ejected for unsportsmanlike conduct. pic.twitter.com\/U7Pg8ULO1J<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 ESPN (@espn) April 26, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

This series marks the third time in four years that the Nuggets and Wolves have faced off in the playoffs. After Game 2 of this year\u2019s series, McDaniels made waves by saying all Minnesota needed to do to win was attack Denver\u2019s weakest defenders<\/a>, then proceeded to list off the names of several \u201cbad defenders.\u201d Among them were Joki\u0107 and teammates Jamal Murray, Tim Hardaway Jr. and Gordon.<\/p>\n

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{“endpoint”:”https:\/\/api-prd-nyt.theathletic.com\/graphql”}<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re all bad defenders,\u201d McDaniels said.<\/p>\n

McDaniels has been a thorn in the Nuggets\u2019 side throughout this series with his scoring (15.5 points per game) and lockdown defense. His defensive contributions have aided four-time Defensive Player of the Year Rudy Gobert\u2019s efforts guarding Joki\u0107, the three-time MVP, one-on-one. Joki\u0107 finished Saturday with 24 points, 15 rebounds and nine assists, but he connected on only 8 of 22 shots and missed all three of his 3-point attempts.<\/p>\n

The Nuggets will try to overcome a 3-1 series deficit for the first time since the 2020 playoffs. That year, Denver became the first team in NBA history to overcome multiple 3-1 series deficits in a single postseason \u2014 against the Utah Jazz in the first round, then against the LA Clippers in the second round.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Nikola Joki\u0107 was fined $50,000, and Julius Randle was fined $35,000 for their roles in an altercation between the Denver Nuggets and Minnesota Timberwovles at the end of Saturday\u2019s Game 4 in Minneapolis. The NBA announced the punishments Sunday, one day ahead of a potential closeout Game 5 on Monday night in Denver. Advertisement With […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[226,241],"class_list":["post-1904411","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-crawlmanager","tag-nytimes-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1904411","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1904411"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1904411\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1904411"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1904411"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1904411"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}