Curry on scuffle with Barton: Nuggets are 'sassy' team

In the fourth quarter of the Portland Trail Blazers’ Game 6 win against the Denver Nuggets, four players were assessed technical fouls after they got into a shoving match.

Things got heated midway through the final period after Denver center Nikola Jokic was called for an offensive foul and the players got into a shoving match and had to be separated. After a review, there were offsetting technicals involving Denver’s Will Barton and Torrey Craig, and Seth Curry and Zach Collins for Portland.

Barton told The Denver Post the scuffle started when Collins fell into his knee with 6 minutes and 16 seconds left in the quarter. Barton said he was trying to protect himself before pushing Curry.

“I wasn’t even looking for that. You just look at the replay,” Barton said, per The Denver Post. “Collins fell into my knees. I guess he thought I was trying to stand over the top of him, be tough. But I was just trying to get out of the way before I got injured. He pushed me. I’m not going to let nobody push me. That’s nothing.”

Curry used some colorful language after the game in describing the dustup in the fourth quarter, saying he was poked in the eye.

“I can’t be allowing people to put fingers in my eye. That was real sassy. Some real sassy dudes over there, some front runners. We can’t allow that,” he said.

When asked by reporters about the altercation, Barton said he did not expect further punishment from the NBA. He also didn’t think it provided any additional motivation for Game 7.

“I’m not worried about no fines,” Barton said. “I’m not tripping off that. Hopefully no suspension for that. I think if I would’ve gotten suspended, I probably would’ve gotten ejected.

“I’m not going to try to justify that as a way for us to play hard or wake us up. I just feel like it’s being competitive, it’s playoff basketball, some things are going to happen. If we’re all out there just being friendly, it ain’t gonna look like nobody’s trying to win, huh?”

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.