The Lakers are down badly against the Nuggets after losing Game 3 in LA. LeBron James and Co stand a chance of getting swept at the hands of the team they defeated in 2020 during their title success. It shouldn’t be a surprise given how good Nikola Jokic and his team have been throughout the 2022-23 season, and not just in the playoffs like the Lakers.
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The #1 seed of the West is rightfully up 3-0 against the #7 seed despite the latter team being led by one of the greatest players in the history of the game. 38-year-old James is not as great a Playoff performer as he was 3 years back but is trying hard to prove so.
His team has been terrific this post-season behind Anthony Davis and also some game-winning performances by Austin Reaves, D’Angelo Russell, and Dennis Schroder. But is taking the hit in WCF because of James.
Now facing elimination every time they take the floor, 4x Finals MVP is still confident of creating history and doing something that’s never been done before. “The King” said so in the post-game presser.
It’s not that he is still underestimating his opponents. The 19x All-Star praised some Nuggets players but left out Jokic.
And this is not the first time he did so.
“LeBron James praised everyone but Nikola Jokic?”: NBA Twitter
Nikola Jokic proved himself better against most of the top players in the NBA and teams this season. Despite that, he did not receive as much love and respect as other superstars in the game throughout the season. He even missed out on the MVP.
The whole NBA fraternity, players, and the media have been unfair when it comes to the Serbian international. Even now, when the Lakers were down two games in the Western Conference Finals, the National Media was majorly focusing on the Lakers’ comeback rather than Jokic and the Nuggets’ brilliance.
A veteran journalist, Lyle Spencer, who worked with the Showtime Lakers, took to Twitter to bring it to everyone’s notice that how LeBron James disrespected Jokic by not mentioning him at all while praising his teammates.
“LeBron in postgame interview mentioned pretty much every Nugget but Jokic, who he (and Giannis) left to last in ASG selections. 🙂 Interesting,” Tweeted Spencer.
LeBron in postgame interview mentioned pretty much every Nugget but Jokic, who he (and Giannis) left to last in ASG selections. 🙂 Interesting. #Lakers #Nuggets
— Lyle Spencer (@Spe81558890Lyle) May 21, 2023
As Spencer pointed out, it was not the first time LeBron, ignored and disrespected Jokic like this. Both he and Giannis Antetokounmpo, who were the captains of the All-Star teams this year, surprisingly did not choose the defending 2x MVP in their teams until the very last.
It might be because The Joker isn’t as friendly as other players in the league and generally keeps to himself, unlike James and Giannis. Or it could be the fact that he complains to the refs a lot and gets away with it. Either way, what they did to him was not fair, and it might haunt the Lakers man soon enough.
Jokic disrespect is serious
There is no doubt that Joel Embiid was a better two-way threat than Nikola Jokic and marginally edged him as a better overall player by the end regular season. And deservedly so, won the MVP.
However, the slander Jokic received from the media and some players (former and current) to hype up Embiid was utterly disrespectful. Even Kevin Durant thought it was going to another level by the end of the season.
Now, the Joker has proven how his game compliments his team much better than Embiid’s did to the Sixers. The former’s much more impactful games have brought the Nuggets on the verge of reaching the NBA Finals against a 4x Champion’s resilient team.
The disrespect must stop right here.
