PHOENIX -- Suns center Jusuf Nurkic and Mavericks forwards Naji Marshall and P.J. Washington were ejected following a brief fight between the players during Dallas' 98-89 win Friday night.
Nurkic was called for an offensive foul while being guarded by Daniel Gafford with 9:02 left in the third quarter before the altercation quickly escalated. Nurkic confronted Marshall before taking an open-handed swing at his head, and then Marshall responded with a punch. Washington quickly shoved Nurkic to the ground before the teams were separated.
"Just protecting each other -- that's what that was," Mavericks coach Jason Kidd said. "Emotions can get high, so our guys protect one another. We talk about it and it was displayed tonight."
The referees reviewed the play before deciding that all three players would be ejected.
"I think that level of altercation is not good for our team, it's not good for anybody individually, it's not good for our league," Suns coach Mike Budenholzer said. "I don't know all the details of what it got to that point."
Suns star Kevin Durant called it an "unfortunate situation."
"You hate to see that in this game," he said. "Guys are going to get suspended maybe and lose a lot of money doing that. But that's what happens when you compete sometimes. Tempers flare up a little bit and you go overboard. And then on the other side, you try and protect yourself, as well."
The Mavs were already short-handed after losing star Luka Doncic to a calf injury on Christmas Day.
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.