In a sort of must-win Saturday night, the Lakers lost Game 3 119-108 at home against the Nuggets to go down 0-3 in the series. LeBron James could not produce a stellar performance to save his team from going down to a deficit that no NBA team has ever come back from in the Playoffs. And with Laker Nation distraught, Jeremy Sochan looks like the happiest man on planet Earth with James’ biggest loss of the season.
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The San Antonio Spurs rookie, whose season ended at the bottom of the West in the regular season was vying for the King’s downfall pretty hard. And it became obvious when he was thrashing James on Twitter in Game 2 for his flopping.
Why does ‘King’ James flop so much?
— Jeremy Sochan (@JeremySochan) May 19, 2023
The 6ft 8’ 1st-year forward wasn’t saying anything wrong, but Laker Nation crucified him for it. James does flop a lot, and it’s no secret in the NBA community despite the Lakers superstar believing otherwise.
However, last night, as the Lakers suffered their first home defeat in these Playoffs, Sochan didn’t have to call him out for flopping.
“Jeremy Sochan is poking the bear again”: NBA Twitter warns Spurs rookie to not mock LeBron James
While the Nuggets players are just balling out and probably saving the talking part for after the series, Jeremy Sochan, who has nothing at stake here, is doing that for them.
He came up with a cryptic Tweet just after the Lakers’ loss where James could only score 23 points in 19 attempts and 3-of-9 shooting from the 3-point line.
🤭🤭🤭
— Jeremy Sochan (@JeremySochan) May 21, 2023
And NBA Twitter went right after him… again.
“Jeremy Sochan poking the bear,” Tweeted Legion Hoops referring to Dillon Brooks’ trash talk to James.
Jeremy Sochan poking the bear 👀 pic.twitter.com/KTvwGMUpD1
— Legion Hoops (@LegionHoops) May 21, 2023
Some wondered how can a rookie talk trash, “Rookie talking smack is crazy“.
Rookie talking smack is crazy
— Honest Westbrook Fan (@Honest0LakerFan) May 21, 2023
And others called Sochan weird and questioned his accomplishments in his rookie season.
Very hasn’t done anything
— Donovan James (@DonJamesSports) May 21, 2023
Surely, the Nuggets are refraining from doing anything Dillon Brooks did in the Grizzlies’ 1st round against the Lakers, and James made his team pay for it.
But can the 20-year veteran really do it again? We’ll have to wait for Game 4 to see it.
It could be a wrap for the Lakers if they stick to their ways
Dennis Schroder should have been the starter for D’Angelo Russell because Dennis did more than a decent job in creating problems for Stephen Curry in the 2nd round.
The Lakers should have ignored Nuggets’ Bruce Brown’s revelation. This would have had Russell coming off the bench, instead of being adjusted to a starter. Instead, they gave D’Lo the chance to prove them wrong, and he went 1/8 from the field and 1-of-6 from the 3-point line.
His slow start, combined with LeBron James’ 0/3 from distance in the 1st half, had the Lakers trailing at home for almost the whole game. They did come back in the game in 3rd quarter, but it fizzled out as Nikola Jokic, who had 9 points with 9 minutes remaining in the game, started making shots. Unfortunately for them, the Lakers had no answer to that.
LA would hope their tremendous season doesn’t end like this. However, if Darvin Ham’s plans don’t change in Game 4 significantly, it’ll be a wrap for the home team. They have to capitalize on the fact that they are still 6-1 in Crypto.com Arena. And then take it one game at a time.
