Portland Trail Blazers center Jusuf Nurkic was whistled for a foul on Sunday night while trying to grab a rebound over PJ Tucker. That came as a surprise to Nurkic, who had actually lost two teeth on the play and went to point out that fact to officials.
The play came midway through the fourth quarter, with Tucker underneath the basket and Nurkic standing behind him in the paint. Toronto’s Patrick Patterson missed a long 3-pointer, leading to a battle for the ball down low.
Nurkic was called for a push in the back as the two went up, but Tucker threw his arm and hit Nurkic on the left side of his face. That knocked out two of Nurkic’s teeth:
#Blazers big man Jusuf Nurkic gets rocked in the mouth, lost 2 teeth, remained in the game
— Def Pen Hoops (@DefPenHoops) February 27, 2017
¯\_(ツ)_/¯#RipCity pic.twitter.com/D4KmKoIwgg
The Blazers big man recovered his teeth -- which were false and part of a dental implant called a bridge -- and handed them to Portland head trainer Geoff Clark.
Here, hold these teeth while I finish this game. pic.twitter.com/CQBeAvnnrQ
— Portland Trail Blazers (@trailblazers) February 27, 2017
Gross!
But have no fear: just a few hours after the Blazers lost to the Raptors, 112-106, Nurkic had his teeth put back in by a dentist.
The two crowns that Jusuf Nurkić had knocked out in the fourth quarter of tonight's loss to the Raptors have been repaired.
— Casey Holdahl (@CHold) February 27, 2017