SGA Just Took the Crown — Jokic Let Him Have It

[JustBuzzin]

If they switch teams do you think SGA is winning this series with Denver, or even taking them to 7?

Also, what happened to your Lakers/Mavs WCF prediction?

This is a wild take considering Jokic won a championship with this same core for the most part just a few years ago. Now they all bums and can't play.

Nah Jokic just didn't do enough as the best player in the world.

#Accountability

Murray hasn't even come CLOSE to replicating his performance in 2023 the last 2 years, when he's not scoring he's a legitimate nonfactor on the floor, MPJ was also atrocious in these playoffs. They also replaced key contributing role players like KCP & Bruce Brown with the likes of Westbrook.

You genuinely don't know basketball if you think Jokic isn't winning the series if he had SGA's supporting cast. I'd be quite confident the series wouldn't even get to a 7th game if the two of them swapped teams.

Jokic needs to demand out and play with better teammates. If not he's just gonna be a guy who has stats and no real playoff success.

Blaming teammates is fine in the short term, but if he keeps getting bounced early then fingers will start to point to him. There is no such thing as I in team. Win as a team and lose as a team.

Is Jokic beating the Thunder by himself?

[MrPainfulTruth]

Superstars show up when the cast doesn’t. Braun was very good. LeBron has dragged teams worse than what Denver has. Giannis has averaged near 40 to carry Milwaukee. Jokic never takes over games. He shouldve started forcing shots. Anything to get offense rolling.

Revisionist history. LeBron has NEVER dragged a team as bad as what Jokic had today, and he NEVER had to face opposition like Jokic had. He hid in the weak east forever, and even there surrendered and went to build superteams. Do you really think we forgot?

He didnt face a team like the Clippers, with two superstars. He certainly never faced a team like OKC with the coming MVP and another allstar while he was on his first Cavs stint. And he never had only 1.5 instead of 4 starters available. Murray sick and slumping, MPJ no shoulder, Gordon no hamstring.

Your "painful truths" seem to be really off most days

2015 against the Warriors, Delly and Mosgov were his best teammates after his team got injured. Delly needed IVs after the games. I could call that 1.5 starters

The Boston big 4 in his first stint?
The Spurs in 2007?

You act like LeBron never played a team as good as the washed Clippers amazing

You act like he played the Hawks every series you're too old to not have watched those series, unless you just recently got into the NBA

2015 was in his first stint? Are you confused?

This was the roster in 2015:


Share & Export

No. Player Pos Ht Wt Birth Date Birth Exp College
89 Lou Amundson PF 6-9 220 December 7, 1982 us US 8 UNLV
5 Will Cherry PG 6-0 185 February 8, 1991 us US R Montana
8 Matthew Dellavedova SG 6-3 200 September 8, 1990 au AU 1 Saint Mary's
12 Joe Harris SG 6-6 220 September 6, 1991 us US R Virginia
33 Brendan Haywood C 7-0 268 November 27, 1979 us US 12 UNC
2 Kyrie Irving PG 6-2 195 March 23, 1992 au AU 3 Duke
23 LeBron James SF 6-9 250 December 30, 1984 us US 11
1 James Jones SF 6-8 218 October 4, 1980 us US 11 Miami (FL)
53 Alex Kirk C 7-0 245 November 14, 1991 us US R New Mexico
0 Kevin Love PF 6-8 251 September 7, 1988 us US 6 UCLA
31 Shawn Marion SF 6-7 220 May 7, 1978 us US 15 Vincennes University, UNLV
18 Mike Miller SF 6-8 218 February 19, 1980 us US 14 Florida
20 Timofey Mozgov C 7-1 275 July 16, 1986 ru RU 4
3 Kendrick Perkins C 6-10 270 November 10, 1984 us US 11
21 A.J. Price PG 6-2 181 October 7, 1986 us US 5 UConn
4 Iman Shumpert SG 6-5 215 June 26, 1990 us US 3 Georgia Tech
5 J.R. Smith SG 6-6 225 September 9, 1985 us US 10 North Carolina A&T
13 Tristan Thompson PF 6-9 254 March 13, 1991 ca CA 3 Texas
17 Anderson Varejão C 6-11 273 September 28, 1982 br BR 10
3 Dion Waiters SG 6-3 215 December 10, 1991 us US 2 Syracuse

Now, guys were injured and the Warriors won their first title. LeBron was already called GOAT and yet he failed to "drag" this team to the title. And yet people try to criticise Jokic for not beating the OKC an 68 W team, with the corpse of the Nuggets. How does that make any sense? Just like 2015, we have to accept that its a team game and no player, regardless of how good, can beat a good team on his own. So out of all of your examples, where did he "drag" a crippled team to a victory?

[JustBuzzin]

If they switch teams do you think SGA is winning this series with Denver, or even taking them to 7?

Also, what happened to your Lakers/Mavs WCF prediction?

This is a wild take considering Jokic won a championship with this same core for the most part just a few years ago. Now they all bums and can't play.

Nah Jokic just didn't do enough as the best player in the world.

#Accountability

Same core, but their health hasn't been the same.

Murray's playing nowhere near 2023 level, MPJ shoulder injury, AG battled injuries all year.

The 2023 had a combination of great core play, combined with Bruce Brown and CB coming off the bench and maintaining leads.

So what will Jokic do?

Continue to be loyal and stay there and get bounced because of his teammates.

Or does he actually get serious and put pressure on Denver to improve.

Jokic might be fine with losing for all we know. Doesn't seem like a guy who really cares about his legacy or how he is viewed.

[bovice]

looking forward to bumping this thread when ANT knocks him out

[Prophet_tt]

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.

They game isn't about pushing a series to 7 games it's about winning. "MVP" Jokic lost in his prime and has to wait another year to try again. Don't try to lower the bar for him.

[Archx]

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.

They game isn't about pushing a series to 7 games it's about winning. "MVP" Jokic lost in his prime and has to wait another year to try again. Don't try to lower the bar for him.

Huh? I didn't lower the bar for him, i simply replied to OP's post saying there are levels to it. Nuggets lost to a much better and more complete team, that doesn't make SGA suddenly a better player.
In today's NBA you simply need a stacked team, Celtics proved it last year, OKC are proving it this year... Even Knicks have insanely good starting lineup and have emerged as a strong contender. Nuggets had no bench and 3 injured starters, one of them shouldn't have been even playing tonight.

[syrus3]

SGA fans better hope Jalen Williams isn’t named Finals MVP if they get there and win. Lmao! But what we do know is that SGA will stay in the game and stat pad til he gets 30 plus.

[GeorgeSears]

This is a wild take considering Jokic won a championship with this same core for the most part just a few years ago. Now they all bums and can't play.

Nah Jokic just didn't do enough as the best player in the world.

#Accountability

Same core, but their health hasn't been the same.

Murray's playing nowhere near 2023 level, MPJ shoulder injury, AG battled injuries all year.

The 2023 had a combination of great core play, combined with Bruce Brown and CB coming off the bench and maintaining leads.

So what will Jokic do?

Continue to be loyal and stay there and get bounced because of his teammates.

Or does he actually get serious and put pressure on Denver to improve.

Jokic might be fine with losing for all we know. Doesn't seem like a guy who really cares about his legacy or how he is viewed.

Nah, his demeanor changed.

There was an article I read earlier in the season - i can't recall who wrote it - but this journalist was in the elevator with Jokic and he wrote about how he asked Jokic who he thought the best player in the league was, and Jokic responded: "you're looking at him". Jokic was serious. The journalist was taken aback because he assumed Jokic would give some humble response like "It's not for me to judge" or maybe name one of his peers like Giannis or LeBron. But he confidently responded with himself.

The reality is that the Olympics were a much bigger deal for Jokic than people realized. The Olympics validated Jokic's greatness and his presence amongst the pantheon of all time greats. He was able to take the United States dream team to the brink with his "drinking buddies" from Serbia and then to a Bronze medal.

Jokic now knows he's good and he's not afraid to let others know it.

So, no, he's not fine with losing. He's going to demand a trade if this situation doesn't improve.

[syrus3]

Joker and Curry are the only two I know who aren’t allowed to have help while frauds like SGA, D Mitch and Siakam walk around with super teams.

[KyRo23]

Revisionist history. LeBron has NEVER dragged a team as bad as what Jokic had today, and he NEVER had to face opposition like Jokic had. He hid in the weak east forever, and even there surrendered and went to build superteams. Do you really think we forgot?

He didnt face a team like the Clippers, with two superstars. He certainly never faced a team like OKC with the coming MVP and another allstar while he was on his first Cavs stint. And he never had only 1.5 instead of 4 starters available. Murray sick and slumping, MPJ no shoulder, Gordon no hamstring.

Your "painful truths" seem to be really off most days

2015 against the Warriors, Delly and Mosgov were his best teammates after his team got injured. Delly needed IVs after the games. I could call that 1.5 starters

The Boston big 4 in his first stint?
The Spurs in 2007?

You act like LeBron never played a team as good as the washed Clippers amazing

You act like he played the Hawks every series you're too old to not have watched those series, unless you just recently got into the NBA

2015 was in his first stint? Are you confused?

This was the roster in 2015:


Share & Export

No. Player Pos Ht Wt Birth Date Birth Exp College
89 Lou Amundson PF 6-9 220 December 7, 1982 us US 8 UNLV
5 Will Cherry PG 6-0 185 February 8, 1991 us US R Montana
8 Matthew Dellavedova SG 6-3 200 September 8, 1990 au AU 1 Saint Mary's
12 Joe Harris SG 6-6 220 September 6, 1991 us US R Virginia
33 Brendan Haywood C 7-0 268 November 27, 1979 us US 12 UNC
2 Kyrie Irving PG 6-2 195 March 23, 1992 au AU 3 Duke
23 LeBron James SF 6-9 250 December 30, 1984 us US 11
1 James Jones SF 6-8 218 October 4, 1980 us US 11 Miami (FL)
53 Alex Kirk C 7-0 245 November 14, 1991 us US R New Mexico
0 Kevin Love PF 6-8 251 September 7, 1988 us US 6 UCLA
31 Shawn Marion SF 6-7 220 May 7, 1978 us US 15 Vincennes University, UNLV
18 Mike Miller SF 6-8 218 February 19, 1980 us US 14 Florida
20 Timofey Mozgov C 7-1 275 July 16, 1986 ru RU 4
3 Kendrick Perkins C 6-10 270 November 10, 1984 us US 11
21 A.J. Price PG 6-2 181 October 7, 1986 us US 5 UConn
4 Iman Shumpert SG 6-5 215 June 26, 1990 us US 3 Georgia Tech
5 J.R. Smith SG 6-6 225 September 9, 1985 us US 10 North Carolina A&T
13 Tristan Thompson PF 6-9 254 March 13, 1991 ca CA 3 Texas
17 Anderson Varejão C 6-11 273 September 28, 1982 br BR 10
3 Dion Waiters SG 6-3 215 December 10, 1991 us US 2 Syracuse

Now, guys were injured and the Warriors won their first title. LeBron was already called GOAT and yet he failed to "drag" this team to the title. And yet people try to criticise Jokic for not beating the OKC an 68 W team, with the corpse of the Nuggets. How does that make any sense? Just like 2015, we have to accept that its a team game and no player, regardless of how good, can beat a good team on his own. So out of all of your examples, where did he "drag" a crippled team to a victory?

You literally said

Revisionist history. LeBron has NEVER dragged a team as bad as what Jokic had today, and he NEVER had to face opposition like Jokic had.

Not reading the rest of what you said. Not very confused, you might be though

[Alatan]

SGA was a non factor in the 1st half when the game was decided. The OP should worship Caruso instead. He was the game changer for the OKC.

[HotRocks34]

No.

All respect to SGA but this series clarified who's the top dog in the league and it's not SGA.

That said, great series and great year for SGA. Credit to him and OKC.

SGA seemed to do a lot of his damage in the series later in games, when DEN was gassed.

I know that in G7 Jokic had the NBA Efficiency edge at the half.

What the series did show is that 1) Denver is an incredibly tough team to take this to seven games and 2) it's a lot easier to face the #22 league defense than a historic #1 defense.

Jokic had the two monster games in the series, in Games 1 and 5. Both in close contests where everything mattered.

I would imagine that SGA had a 30+ Game Score game tonight and that makes two for him for the series.

Jokic had three of them, including a 40 Game Score game and two 40 point games and he came into G7 leading Denver in Individual DRTG as well.

SGA is a heck of a player but there's only one Jokic and he's still the best in the league, much as LeBron was the best in the league in 2009 and 2010 although Kobe fans would say differently.

The OKC MVP of the series IMO is Jaylin Williams. Without him, OKC would not have won.

[Bergmaniac]

Your inept trolling isn't funny anymore, it's too repetitive and plain dumb, please stop.

[mademan]

When you have a better 2-8, you generally win if your best player is good..and Shai is far better than good. This was the 2nd best player in the league with a far better cast. That it got to 7 was incredible in it's own right, and who knows with a healthy Porter all series and/or a healthy Gordon game 7

[Optms]

Crown belongs to ANT atm.

Shai has to come take it. Joker hasn't been relevant in the playoffs in years. It's okay. Nuggets fans can join us Lakers fans.

[NZB2323]

If they switch teams do you think SGA is winning this series with Denver, or even taking them to 7?

Also, what happened to your Lakers/Mavs WCF prediction?

Lakers had no center, Reddick got exposed (still think he'll be a great coach), and Luka was fat and unserious. Mavs, that was just a long shot.

I don't think you can switch them, because Denver would have no center, while Thunder would suddenly have 3 and a half. However, Thunder mainly won by brutalizing Denver inside. Jokic is the Center and provided no resistance at all, even when Thunder went small, they got whatever they wanted at the rim, right around Jokic. If you replace Jokic with Wemby, the Nuggets win this game, and that is a second year player. So this loss has to be on Joker, on defense alone. And he was also a liability offensively, so he ended up giving you nothing.

Caruso
Dort
Jal. Williams
Chet
Jokic

Would destroy

Murray
SGA
MPJ
Gordon
DeAndre Jordan

[HotRocks34]

SGA seemed to do a lot of his damage in the series later in games, when DEN was gassed.

Game 7 perfect example.

OKC up 25 after three quarters. SGA scores 12 points in the fourth.

That's what I'm talking about.

I called this out at the time. Before the first of two set of games between DEN and OKC, a back to back in OKC, SGA sat out the previous game so he could rest up for an MVP push game. That's when I knew where he was coming from this year.

It's ok to do that, but people will call it out.

Great player, but no not Jokic despite the series win. The upcoming draftees, some of them, were asked this (who's the best player) and I think most got it right.

[jc23]

Jokic haters and lakers fans its yo time lol.

[NZB2323]

Crown belongs to ANT atm.

Shai has to come take it. Joker hasn't been relevant in the playoffs in years. It's okay. Nuggets fans can join us Lakers fans.

Ant wasn’t even the best player on his own team in the last round. There’s no reason why Ant should have the crown right now.

[Optms]

Crown belongs to ANT atm.

Shai has to come take it. Joker hasn't been relevant in the playoffs in years. It's okay. Nuggets fans can join us Lakers fans.

Ant wasn’t even the best player on his own team in the last round. There’s no reason why Ant should have the crown right now.

Beat Joker last year. Beat Luka and Bron. Playoff Jimmy. That's more than Shai has.

Give him his due. Wolves are a dumpster franchise without him.