Marcus Morris on Markieff's injury, facing Nikola Jokić
By Melissa Rohlin
FOX Sports NBA Writer
On Wednesday night, Clippers forward Marcus Morris Sr. expressed relief that his twin brother, Markieff Morris, was able to return from the whiplash injury that had sidelined him for four months.
That sentiment came just a few days before Marcus faces the player responsible for that injury: Denver Nuggets superstar Nikola Jokić.
Markieff, a forward for the Miami Heat, missed 58 games after Jokić shoved him from behind in retaliation for a hard foul when the teams played Nov. 8.
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Nuggets star and reigning MVP Nikola Jokić was ejected for shoving Miami’s Markieff Morris. Nick Wright and Antoine Walker discuss why Jokić's action was grounds for suspension.
The following 124 days were tough for the Morris brothers, who weren't sure how dangerous the injury was or when Markieff would be able to play again.
"For any player, that's a tough shot for anybody to take," Marcus told FOX Sports. "And being as though my brother was strong enough to be able to take it, thank God that it didn't end his career. That could've been bad. Just to say, if he wasn't able to return, like, then what? Thank God he was because if he wasn't, it would've been a real, real big problem."
The possible implications for Markieff in the aftermath of the injury were dire.
"Just because you've got to go through a lot of things with the NBA," Marcus said. "It's not just about the head. It's about getting clearance to his neck because there was trauma."
The Heat turned to the NBA's Fitness-to-Play panel to determine whether it was safe for Markieff to return to the court. After being evaluated by three physicians, he returned Saturday in the Minnesota Timberwolves' win over the Heat. He recorded six points on 3-for-7 shooting and four rebounds in 17 minutes.
It was a long road back for Markieff, made especially tricky because he had suffered a previous neck injury.
For Marcus, who is very close to his twin brother, the entire ordeal was upsetting. Marcus thought not only that Jokić's shove was dangerous but also that Jokić's brothers crossed the line with their back-and-forth on Twitter.
After the incident, Marcus let his frustration spill onto Twitter.
Markieff also chimed in, tweeting, in part, that he "never hit a man with his back turned" and adding, "Joker 1 smooth 0 lol."
Jokić's brothers, Strahinja and Nemanja, responded by creating a Twitter account to defend the reigning NBA MVP.
After one more back-and-forth between Marcus and the Jokić brothers, Marcus put an end to the Twitter war, apparently by order of his mother.
When asked Wednesday if his mom really did intervene, Marcus nodded.
"Yeah, she really did tell me to stop," he said.
Marcus said the exchange with Strahinja and Nemanja, who played basketball at the University of Detroit Mercy and is an MMA fighter, really bothered him.
"For somebody like that, of that size, to wait until [Markieff] turned his back and then go for him, I thought it was disrespectful," Marcus said of the 6-foot-11, 284-pound Jokić. "But I thought it was more disrespectful for his brothers to comment and, not really knowing the game of basketball like that, for them to just say whatever they were saying.
"But one thing I will say is they will never say that to my face."
After Markieff was injured in November, Jokić acknowledged to reporters that it was a "stupid play." But according to Markieff, Jokić never reached out to apologize.
"F--- nah, I don’t want to hear from him," he told reporters Saturday. "He did what he did, and it is what it is."
During his extended time away from the court, Markieff found some solace and normalcy in watching his brother play. Despite being competitors, the Morris brothers have always been each other's greatest cheerleader and closest confidante.
"Being as though he was able to watch me play made it a little bit easier," Marcus told FOX Sports. "He was actually ready to play sooner than when he was cleared to play, but he went through everything, he stayed patient, and he got back out there."
For Marcus, his brother's health is what matters.
And now Markieff is back on the court, playing for a Heat team that has the best record in the Eastern Conference, at 46-24. Meanwhile, Marcus is averaging 16.2 points and 4.7 rebounds for the Clippers, who are in eighth in the West, with a record of 36-36.
With Markieff back in action and the Clippers headed to Denver on Tuesday, Marcus said he has finally moved on from any so-called beef with Jokić and his brothers.
"I'm off of it," he told FOX Sports. "My brother came back. He's healthy. He's happy. I'm off of it. I'm off of it. I'm just going to let it go, you know what I'm saying?
"Because if I don't, somebody's going to be in trouble. So I'll just leave it at that."
Melissa Rohlin is an NBA writer for FOX Sports. She previously covered the league for Sports Illustrated, the Los Angeles Times, the Bay Area News Group and the San Antonio Express-News. Follow her on Twitter @melissarohlin.