Split image of Nikola Jokic sitting on the bench and Jimmy Butler yelling at him.

The NBA is now headed to the most unlikely finals we’ve seen in a long time, with the Miami Heat set to play the Denver Nuggets for a championship after going the full seven games against the Boston Celtics and beating them on Monday night, probably thanks to ESPN…

There’s not much in the way of history between the Heat and Nuggets, but there is that incident dating back to 2021 when Nikola Jokic shoved Markieff Morris in the back and ended his season. Morris was on the Heat’s roster back then and had been very productive up until that point, so his absence came as a huge blow.

Morris had just fouled the Nuggets star and was walking away when Jokic barrelled into him, causing his head to jerk back. The action resulted in a neck injury for the latter. And, who knows? The Heat might have made it to the finals if they had him in the rotation given that he’s good for 14.5 points a night.

Butler was pretty irate and challenged Jokic to a fight, remonstrating as he asked the Serbian to take it to the back. “P**sy ass sh*t! Bring that sh*t! Bring yo ass to the back!” he screamed.

The Heat players also sought a confrontation after the game and had to be stopped from entering the Nuggets’ locker room as they simply would not let it go.

With a series between the two teams now on the horizon, we cannot help but wonder whether sparks will fly again. On that note, both head coaches would do well to remind their teams of what’s at stake.