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‘Greatest choke job in NBA history’: Shannon Sharpe rips apart Clippers’ Kawhi Leonard for blowing 3-1 lead vs Nuggets

Amulya Shekhar
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Shannon Sharpe on Clippers and Kawhi Leonard

FS1 Undisputed host Shannon Sharpe has made the controversial claim that the Clippers losing from 3-1 up is the greatest choke job in NBA history.

The LA Clippers blew double-digit leads in 3 straight games as they bowed out of the playoffs in disappointing fashion yesterday. Kawhi Leonard and Paul George combined for only 24 points and 8 rebounds on 10 of 38 shooting.

The Clippers could not score a field goal in the first 7 minutes of the 4th quarter.

Shannon Sharpe declares Clippers loss to be the ‘greatest choke job in NBA history’

There’s a heavily personal reason for why Shannon Sharpe is running with this take, and it’s obvious. Sharpe is a longtime LeBron stan and would do anything to take the pressure off The King’s back.

It is understandably this that has motivated him to call the Clippers loss a choke job.

Also Read: ‘Kawhi Leonard and co. were fatigued’- Clippers players couldn’t play for 3 minutes at a stretch in 4th quarter

Commonly, the greatest choke job in NBA history is attributed to LeBron James, who was outplayed by Jason Terry and JJ Barea in the 2011 NBA Finals. James’s terrible performances in that series included an 8-point outing in a Game 4 loss by 3 points.

While Kawhi’s team was favoured to win this series by equivalent margins, it wasn’t solely Kawhi who let his team down this time.

If James had played even to his averages,  the Heat would have romped home in that series. It does make sense for a LeBron stan to live that down, however.

About the author

Amulya Shekhar

Amulya Shekhar

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Amulya Shekhar is a sports junkie who thrives on the thrills and frills of live sports action across basketball, football (the American variant works too), parkour, adventure sports. He believes sports connect us to our best selves, and he hopes to help people experience sports more holistically.

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