The hand hit all ball and his bicep happened to hit his nose in the process. I’ve seen flagrant 1s worse than that and ejections should be given out when there’s obvious bad intentions behind it. This is like sending someone to prison cuz their 3rd strike was stealing a loaf of bread. Yes by the letter of the law, they are at fault, but use common sense. No one really expected a flagrant 2 there… well except the ref.
C’mon now. Everyone knows you can’t wind up like that. His “intentions” don’t matter. That wasn’t a basketball move. That was a frustration move. And he got what he deserved.
Imagine the same exact play but DeMarcus Cousins or Draymond Green or Matt Barnes hitting Jokic like that. The basketball world would lose it’s collective mind!
W/O the wind up, I’d agree it shouldn’t be a flagrant 2. But Jokic was clearly frustrated and made a reckless attempt to slap the ball. The outcome may not have been what he intended, but he still needs to suffer the consequences from making such a blatant and reckless play.
He could have seriously injured Cameron Payne.