Nuggets center Nikola Jokić may have gotten the biggest Q Score boost from the 2023 NBA Finals after a dominant, MVP-caliber performance.
However, Burnie—the Heat‘s martyred mascot, who was sent to the emergency room during Game 4 after taking a ferocious punch from ex-UFC champion Conor McGregor—was presumably not far behind.
After five days of speculation as to what precisely happened between McGregor and the basketball-nosed anthropomorphic fireball, the fighter addressed the incident Tuesday afternoon in New York.
“The mascot is good. It was a skit, and all is well,” McGregor told TMZ. “I spent a lot of time with him afterward. We talked it out. Everything is great. It was all part of the show!”
Reports emerged that McGregor’s punch had landed Burnie in the emergency room on Saturday, when Sam Amick of The Athletic wrote that the man who plays the mascot “was given pain medication and has since been discharged from the hospital.”
Miami coach Erik Spoelstra later praised Burnie’s toughness, and indicated he would’ve returned for Game 6 of the Finals.
This was made moot, however, when the Nuggets and Rocky the Mountain Lion—no stranger to injuries himself—topped the Heat, 94-89, to win the title in Game 5.
