CHICAGO — Lu Dort is a stocky, brick wall of a 6-foot-4 guard who’s a study in irritation and spearheads a taxing Oklahoma City Thunder defense. Nikola Jokić is the Denver Nuggets’ burly, imposing, three-time MVP center who deals in physicality. Their history includes pushing each other’s limits in a fierce second-round clash that took the eventual 2025 NBA-champion Thunder to the brink last May.
Residual emotions surfaced Friday when Dort received a flagrant 2 foul — which triggered the fourth ejection of his seven-season career — for unnaturally planting his hip in the path of Jokić, who trotted up the court as Denver inbounded the ball. Dort connected with Jokić, sending the big man tumbling to the floor before he erupted at what he deemed “an unnecessary move and a necessary reaction by me.”
After a few days, Dort conceded as much himself.
“It was a physical game throughout the whole game,” Dort told The Athletic after Tuesday’s win over the Chicago Bulls. “Obviously, that was unnecessary contact that I shouldn’t have done. I got the worst of it by getting thrown out the game. But yeah, it was a high-level game. I’m a competitor, so I compete.”
He later added: “That’s a physical game, and there’s limits to it. And, I went over the limit.”
When asked by The Denver Post columnist Troy Renck on Wednesday if Dort’s comment that he went “over the limit” means anything to them, Nuggets coach David Adelman, small forward Bruce Brown and center Jonas Valančiūnas all had the same, short response: “No.”
Dort committed the most conspicuous non-basketball play in a game laced with inconspicuous shoves and tie-ups. Less than three minutes remaining, reigning MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, whose expressions typically don’t go beyond a sneer, received a technical foul for chucking the ball at Jokić before complaining that the big man shoved him.
“Every time we play against each other, it’s always a battle,” Dort said of his Thunder’s meetings with the Nuggets. “(His flagrant foul on Jokić) has nothing to do with going against that team. We love going against that team. It’s always a nice matchup whenever we play against them, and it’s fun.”
The tension from Dort’s ejection permeated the weekend, with Adelman vocalizing his frustration when questioned about Jokić’s reaction a couple of nights later.
“For Dort to take that shot — and then I guess it wasn’t that big of a deal from their (the Thunder’s) standpoint, how they looked at it — is ridiculous,” Adelman told reporters Sunday.
Adelman later called it “malicious” and a “cheap shot.”
“They were right,” Dort said upon hearing Jokić’s reaction. “That was an unnecessary move by me, something I shouldn’t have done.”
A member of last season’s All-Defensive First Team, Dort is saddled with making his physical presence felt, his way of disrupting the NBA’s best offensive engines. He knows the nature of his defense — draping himself on ballhandlers without any consideration for personal space — and the response it elicits.
“I have a tough job, guarding the best players every night,” Dort said. “It’s not easy. Obviously, I play hard. I’m a physical player. It’s what I do for my team, and sometimes people think it’s too much, but it’s always (within) the rules of the game.”
The word that has perhaps circulated most in the aftermath of Friday’s play? “Dirty.” Dort firmly rejected that label.
“I don’t think I’m dirty,” he said. “I can’t control media. Media always wants to have some type of attention or anything. They want that buzz. I can’t control that. I’ve been doing well with this organization for years now. I’m happy with how I play and what I do with my teammates. I go out there, compete every night. So, I’m gonna keep doing what I do on the court, and then let the media judge the way they want to judge.”
Dort, walking away by then, reiterated his message.
“I’m not dirty,” he said.