SGA Just Took the Crown — Jokic Let Him Have It

[JRoy]

Jokic had 5 turnovers tonight and it should’ve been more. A lot of those botched entry passes? They're credited to others, but anyone watching could see Jokic begging for the ball in traffic, then standing flat-footed while it got picked off.

He took just 9 shots in a do-or-die game and finished -23.

But anyway, let’s not focus on the negatives, because we're often too guilty of that.

Let’s talk about the real story, the coronation of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander as the best player in the world.

I’ve never had him in my top 2 even, but this series has ended the debate. Shai has taken the mantle. Jokic had his window. SGA just kicked it shut. Congrats to SGA and Thunder fans.

If Jokic hand SGA switched rosters, Jokic might not lose a game in the playoffs.

[Quattro]

How's Luka doing in the playoffs again?

[falcolombardi]

Jokic had 5 turnovers tonight and it should’ve been more. A lot of those botched entry passes? They're credited to others, but anyone watching could see Jokic begging for the ball in traffic, then standing flat-footed while it got picked off.

He took just 9 shots in a do-or-die game and finished -23.

But anyway, let’s not focus on the negatives, because we're often too guilty of that.

Let’s talk about the real story, the coronation of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander as the best player in the world.

I’ve never had him in my top 2 even, but this series has ended the debate. Shai has taken the mantle. Jokic had his window. SGA just kicked it shut. Congrats to SGA and Thunder fans.

If Jokic hand SGA switched rosters, Jokic might not lose a game in the playoffs.

Chet and jalen shot 22 % from 3 point land this series, do you realize how much slander they would catch from jokic fans after a loss?

[UglyBugBall]

Jokic had 5 turnovers tonight and it should’ve been more. A lot of those botched entry passes? They're credited to others, but anyone watching could see Jokic begging for the ball in traffic, then standing flat-footed while it got picked off.

He took just 9 shots in a do-or-die game and finished -23.

But anyway, let’s not focus on the negatives, because we're often too guilty of that.

Let’s talk about the real story, the coronation of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander as the best player in the world.

I’ve never had him in my top 2 even, but this series has ended the debate. Shai has taken the mantle. Jokic had his window. SGA just kicked it shut. Congrats to SGA and Thunder fans.

If Jokic hand SGA switched rosters, Jokic might not lose a game in the playoffs.

The thunder roster is so incompetent outside SGA Nuggets could get away with playing zone the entire series.

[Ethomasp31]

SGA is not a better player than Jokic. This is the same "caught in the moment" scenario like last year Mavs vs Celtics. One player shows up while others completely stink it up.

OKC are a strong all around team... Nuggets are Jokic and occasionally Murray. AG has been amazing but got injured at the wrong time, MPJ also injured. On top of that Nuggets have literally no bench lol...

This is the new NBA, last season Celtics showed us what it means if you have a stacked team, this season it's OKC. Nuggets pushing them to game 7 is an incredible achievement on its own.

Fair enough, and I agree OKC is deeper. But this loss was on Jokic. The interior defense was weak, he turned the ball over way too much, and he only took 9 shots. You can’t pin it on the supporting cast when the star himself doesn’t show up. If he puts in a dominant performance and they still lose, then blame the bench. But that wasn’t the case here.

HA!! It probably would have taken the Lakers at least 15 games to win 4 against the Wolves.

[Woodsanity]

Swap teams and SGA loses to the Clippers and doesn't even make it to 2nd round.

[UglyBugBall]

Swap teams and SGA loses to the Clippers and doesn't even make it to 2nd round.

But he beat the team that beat the clippers, so he would have beat the clippers easily.

[Woodsanity]

Swap teams and SGA loses to the Clippers and doesn't even make it to 2nd round.

But he beat the team that beat the clippers, so he would have beat the clippers easily.

Well good luck beating the Clippers with two other relevant players (Aaron Gordon and Murray).

[jg77]

Jokic had 5 turnovers tonight and it should’ve been more. A lot of those botched entry passes? They're credited to others, but anyone watching could see Jokic begging for the ball in traffic, then standing flat-footed while it got picked off.

He took just 9 shots in a do-or-die game and finished -23.

But anyway, let’s not focus on the negatives, because we're often too guilty of that.

Let’s talk about the real story, the coronation of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander as the best player in the world.

I’ve never had him in my top 2 even, but this series has ended the debate. Shai has taken the mantle. Jokic had his window. SGA just kicked it shut. Congrats to SGA and Thunder fans.

If Jokic hand SGA switched rosters, Jokic might not lose a game in the playoffs.

If SGA and Jokic switched teams then you'd be calling OKC's roster trash and Denver's roster stacked.

[JRoy]

Ridiculous.

[NZB2323]

So Jokic backup =Skip Bayless

Thanks for proving how weak of a supporting cast Jokic has. Well done.

...entire forum "Nuggets have no bench"

UglyBugBall... NO, JOKIC SUCKS!!!

24h later.

UglyBugBall....Nuggets have Skip Bayless bad bench.

....Uhm??

Deandre doesn't play though so it has zero affect on the team on the court. The team that actually plays is all-time good. Malevy Leons sucks too, so does that mean Thunder bench sucks?

Caruso
Wiggins
Wallace
Joe
Jay Williams

Vs.

Westbrook
Strawther
Watson
Tyson
Pickett

The fact that the Nuggets don’t have a backup center who is good enough to play absolutely affects the games. The Thunder can go on runs with Caruso in SGA’s place.

There’s Nuggets starters have a NetRtg of +11.3 this playoffs. The Thunder’s starters have a NetRtg of +3.9. Caruso/Hartenstein/Wiggins/Williams/Wallace has a NetRtg of +30.1. The most common 5 man lineup without Jokic has a NetRtg of -6.6. 2nd most common was -0.3.

Source: https://www.nba.com/stats/lineups/advanced

Or if you just compare 6th men, Caruso is a better defensive player, much more efficient(59.9 TS% vs. 45.3 TS%), and gives the ball less often(18 turnovers vs. 6). Just swapping Caruso for Westbrook may have changed who won this series.

[schnakenpopanz]

If you would ask around the league with which player they would built a team at the moment. Answer: Jokic
If you would ask around with which team you would like to compete. Answer: OKC

[levon]

Watch on YouTube

[BigGargamel]

Imagine watching that entire series and thinking that SGA is seriously a better player than Jokic.

SGA will win the MVP, and deserves it. That's not the same thing.

A few terrible posters are really ruining this board for everyone else. It might be time to find somewhere else to post. It's gotten bad.

[Wolfgang630]

A troll topic went 6 pages lol

[Infinite Llamas]

Only one of those guys didn't see a single minute this playoff. Any team with DeAndre playing is getting destroyed so it's a non sensical comparison. Might as well replace DeAndre with skip bayless on court and they'd have the same chance winning too.

So Jokic backup =Skip Bayless

Thanks for proving how weak of a supporting cast Jokic has. Well done.

...entire forum "Nuggets have no bench"

UglyBugBall... NO, JOKIC SUCKS!!!

24h later.

UglyBugBall....Nuggets have Skip Bayless bad bench.

....Uhm??

You just can’t make **** like this up. These guys are tripping on their own delusions.

[UglyBugBall]

So Jokic backup =Skip Bayless

Thanks for proving how weak of a supporting cast Jokic has. Well done.

...entire forum "Nuggets have no bench"

UglyBugBall... NO, JOKIC SUCKS!!!

24h later.

UglyBugBall....Nuggets have Skip Bayless bad bench.

....Uhm??

You just can’t make **** like this up. These guys are tripping on their own delusions.

I already dispelled this logic, see above.

[NZB2323]

...entire forum "Nuggets have no bench"

UglyBugBall... NO, JOKIC SUCKS!!!

24h later.

UglyBugBall....Nuggets have Skip Bayless bad bench.

....Uhm??

You just can’t make **** like this up. These guys are tripping on their own delusions.

I already dispelled this logic, see above.

No, you didn’t.

The fact that the Nuggets don’t have a backup center who is good enough to play absolutely affects the games. The Thunder can go on runs with Caruso in SGA’s place.

The Nuggets starters have a NetRtg of +11.3 this playoffs. The Thunder’s starters have a NetRtg of +3.9. Caruso/Hartenstein/Wiggins/Williams/Wallace has a NetRtg of +30.1. The most common 5 man lineup without Jokic has a NetRtg of -6.6. 2nd most common was -0.3.

Source: https://www.nba.com/stats/lineups/advanced

Or if you just compare 6th men, Caruso is a better defensive player than Westbrook, is much more efficient(59.9 TS% vs. 45.3 TS%), and gives the ball less often(18 turnovers vs. 6). Just swapping Caruso for Westbrook may have changed who won this series.

[NZB2323]

SGA is not a better player than Jokic. This is the same "caught in the moment" scenario like last year Mavs vs Celtics. One player shows up while others completely stink it up.

OKC are a strong all around team... Nuggets are Jokic and occasionally Murray. AG has been amazing but got injured at the wrong time, MPJ also injured. On top of that Nuggets have literally no bench lol...

This is the new NBA, last season Celtics showed us what it means if you have a stacked team, this season it's OKC. Nuggets pushing them to game 7 is an incredible achievement on its own.

Fair enough, and I agree OKC is deeper. But this loss was on Jokic. The interior defense was weak, he turned the ball over way too much, and he only took 9 shots. You can’t pin it on the supporting cast when the star himself doesn’t show up. If he puts in a dominant performance and they still lose, then blame the bench. But that wasn’t the case here.

Jokic: 20, 9, and 7, 72.3 TS%, 16.7 GmSc
Murray: 13, 2, and 1, 40.6 TS%, 7.2 GmSc
Westbrook: 6, 5, and 2, 42.9 TS%, 0.0 GmSc

UglyBugBall: Jokic played terrible and he’s the reason the Nuggets lost.

[BigGargamel]

Wiggins and Joe couldn't even get off the bench during this series, and they would be the best bench player on Denver. Not to mention Caruso or Wallace. Or Jaylin Williams up front. The depth difference between the two teams is staggering.