Nikola Jokic On Patrick Beverley Saying He Flails: ‘I’m Just Showing The Ref It’s A Foul’

The Clippers were able to beat the Nuggets on Sunday night to take a 2-1 lead in their series as Denver was unable to score enough down the stretch to hold their lead and keep the Clippers at arm’s length.

Game 3 saw a sensational performances from Nikola Jokic (32 points, 12 rebounds, eight assists) and Paul George (32 points, four rebounds, four assists), with George getting more support from his teammates to get the win. Jokic was a dominant force on Sunday, not only scoring and facilitating, but in putting the Clippers into foul trouble with his physicality. Ivica Zubac fouled out of the game and every single L.A. big picked up two quick fouls on Jokic as he took them into the post and baited them into trying to be overly physical with him.

Even with those fouls, it was the Clippers that were the beneficiaries of the free throw differential in Game 3, marching to the line late in the fourth quarter after getting into the bonus midway through. It was the chief way their offense scored down the stretch, as they hunted contact to take advantage of being in the bonus in a way Denver never did when they had the same opportunity in the second quarter.

After the game, Patrick Beverley of the Clippers still wanted to talk about Jokic’s “flailing,” noting L.A. had to approach him the same way as Doncic with his embellishment.

Jokic was asked about those comments and pointed out how many more free throws L.A. took compared to Denver, while also noting that he’s simply “showing the ref that it’s a foul.”

The line will get plenty of laughs, but for the most part, this is what every player does when they embellish contact. There are certainly times when players flop with no foul committed, but the majority of the time, flopping is simply making sure a foul gets called on illegal contact. There’s so much contact in basketball that something often has to look out of the ordinary for referees to call something, and when players play through those hits and don’t get calls it leads to flailing and embellishing to make sure, as Jokic says, the referees are aware they were fouled.

It’s why players fall to the ground when someone runs into their chest for a charge rather than staying standing up, because it’s the only way to get that call. It’s why they throw their arms out when someone slaps down on the arm on a layup to make sure it’s known that wasn’t a clean strip. The problem is, aesthetically, this is a nightmare to watch and as such flopping and flailing, even though often warranted, are viewed so negatively. Now, having Beverley of all people complain about this is certainly an added comedic element in all of this, but both players have points here. Jokic certainly does put pressure on refs to call fouls with his flailing, but that’s because he’s getting fouled and wants to be sure it’s called. Hopefully that doesn’t become the story of this series, which has otherwise been extremely fun to watch over the last two games.