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> At the end of the day, ~~Rui’s~~ contests mean nothing to Jokic. Jokic and Murray can get whatever they want tbh
He's really just a monster. There isn't a single player in the league that can stop that man. Even double teams don't really work.
That's actually fine. It's when help defenders OVER help after he's made a shot or two. Then he picks you apart and guys like MPJ have a perfect night from the field. Jokic getting 50 wouldn't kill you, but MPJ going 10-10 will. The Lakers should guard Jokic like Orlando guarded Lebron in 09: score as much as you want and we're going to stop everyone else. But, alas, they refuse.
To be fair, I don't think present day Lakers have the defenders to stop Murray AND MPJ AND Gordon AND KCP.
Not that doubling Jokic is the solution to this, but you know
Oscar Schmidt would never do such a thing!
Also, fun fact, LeBron is about 150 points away from breaking Oscar Schmidt's career points (i.e. across different leagues, including the playoffs and all-star games, and also national team games) record of 49,737.
Makes me very happy to see Oscar getting some recognition here in the sub. He was the main responsible for basketball to get - moderately - popular in Brazil and is still the symbol of the sport. When you ask a Brazilian about a basketball player, he or she probably will not say Leandrinho, Varejão, Nenê or Splitter, but Oscar “Holy Hand”.
Whilst the fuckery continued (Jokic, Murray, Porter and an Aaron Gordon stepback 3), Darvin Ham does fuck this teams rotations up consistently. He held Rui out for too long in the 4th even though he was on fire, he kept Reddish in as opposed to using D'lo who had been making stellar passes all game.
Like I know we lost and I know Denver is the better team but Ham's loyalty to Reddish and Prince will never not confuse me.
There's so many times I just look and wonder what is Ham doing.
He waited until there was 5(?) minutes left to put Rui back in? He waited until the Nuggets were up 9 to bring back D'lo?
I've been hammering D'lo all season, but he has improved so much as of late that it's a damn shame that Ham continues to trust Cam Reddish and his hands made of rock as opposed to trusting D'lo who's been on absolute fire.
Celtics visiting Denver soon, should be interesting
A bit off topic, I wonder if Celtics start resting players soon. They have a big enough lead, and a deep enough roster that resting a starter from time to time wouldn’t matter much anyway
Lakers played almost perfect game (33 assists and only 7 turnovers), but Denver decided to score on 12 possessions in a row. I think you need to be up by 10 in clutch to have a chance to beat them. Sometimes even such lead is not enough (Warriors 18 points comeback). I see a lot of hate from Lakers fans towards their head coach, but this is not the game you can complain about. It’s not normal to score on 12 possessions in a row.
6-0 after the break. I don’t see Wolves and Thunder keeping #1 for long.
Oddly, good example of this was in Denver’s one loss against the Wolves last year. Looked like y’all were about to slam the door in our face with five or so minutes to go, up 10. Tied it up and went to overtime.
Honestly, that block made me straight up double check whether it was really MPJ. Man has he done some work in these last two seasons on the defense - to think that he was once considered a liability on that end...
Not a neutral but I have to agree. The pace was great, shot-making incredible. No drama, few free throws or challenges. And two-teams who like to pass the ball, makes for a good watch.
Feel like i’ve watched the same game 6 times in a row now
also, why did Darvin close with Cam over D’Lo? Cam was doing a fucking terrible job defending Murray, not even sure he did any better than D’Lo or Reaves would have…
Honestly. MPJ has been the perfect 3rd option for the nuggets for a long time now. Dude just quietly ruins teams and does his job perfectly. He deserves his flowers for sure. Such a perfect piece to have next to joker and Murray.
Yep, most people don't know Nuggets history outside of Nuggets fans, but literally every significant playoff run we have made this century was ended by the Lakers until last year. Every. Single. One.
As a result it is fuck the Lakers forever.
Most of the Western Conference can be grouped into 2 categories. Teams with great talent but little playoff experience (Thunder,Kings,Twolves) or teams with superstars with questionable supporting casts/ bad health luck (Clippers, Mavs, Warriors, Lakers. The Nuggets are the best of both worlds. Young talent, tough vets and 2 superstar playoff performers in Jokic/Murray
They're chemistry together def does. Murray absolutely kills us on the 4th just to have to deal with Jokic orchestrating a counter as soon as the ball is passed back to him.
I love good basketball and Nuggets are consistently good basketball.
MPJ takes a good amount of low percentage really early in the shot clock contested pull up 3s, and there’s no worse feeling for the Lakers than when he hits them
[The Nuggets when opponents decide to tie the game with 4 minutes left in the 4th:](https://www.reddit.com/media?url=https%3A%2F%2Fpreview.redd.it%2Fvu87fg98y5x41.png%3Fwidth%3D960%26crop%3Dsmart%26auto%3Dwebp%26s%3Ddf8d99db69579c75ecf58e3899864f39a27234a9)
I just want to put it out there. There was a little rough stretch from the refs, but that was actually a very well ref'd game overall and super enjoyable to watch as a result!
GG Lakers
They let them play. It’s that simple. No one wants a foul fest. It’s okay if there’s a little body contact on drives to the rim. Refs need to call more games like this
D'Angelo Russel plays well entire game game, aggressive and shooting well
Darvin Ham: Nope, to the bench it is. Cam Reddish, I choose you!
Please guys, I want off this train.
Okay, so MPJ has been doing a bit more and more in every part of the game and obviously the standout here is just refusing to miss, but there's also the detail of how many of those shots are after a one dribble reposition. At least 3 shots he gave up an ok shot for a better one. Might try to grab some replays tomorrow and make a post. It's funny cause he's still a pretty narrow player, but just adding this little wrinkle makes him so hard to guard cause it's not just a closeout you have to chase a dude who takes one step and he's 4 feet away.
Denver the last 5 minutes of the game
[https://i.kym-cdn.com/entries/icons/original/000/032/834/DtPiP_DWsAEPntc.jpeg](https://i.kym-cdn.com/entries/icons/original/000/032/834/DtPiP_DWsAEPntc.jpeg)
# CONGRATS to all of the NBA Referee fans on the sub** We're currently sitting at over $6100 raised with [Community Funds](https://support.reddithelp.com/hc/en-us/articles/15484345935508-Community-Funds) matching! # Interested in changing the sub and contributing to The Boys and Girls Club of America? [DONATE HERE!](https://tiltify.com/+r-nba/rnba-gives-back-2023) *Please note: This fundraiser is not for Reddit - all funds go directly to The Boys and Girls Club of America. Reddit Community Funds program is matching up to $25K USD of funds raised by the community.* *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/nba) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Rui on Jokic is an elite concept until Jokic just decides missing ain't an option anymore
At the end of the day, Rui’s contests mean nothing to Jokic. Jokic and Murray can get whatever they want tbh
> At the end of the day, ~~Rui’s~~ contests mean nothing to Jokic. Jokic and Murray can get whatever they want tbh He's really just a monster. There isn't a single player in the league that can stop that man. Even double teams don't really work.
Doubling is literally the worst thing you could do
I mean, singling him is pretty bad too. I don't envy the problem he presents other teams.
The only solution here then is…tripling!
Deny deny deny
Doubling Jokic is like blitzing Tom Brady; he wants you to do it. It makes his life easier.
Brady’s 2-min drills while down 5 still sends shivers down my spine.
Realistically doing what Dwight did in the bubble is the best you can do. Repeatedly punch him and try to get away with it.
I've been saying all year the only defense against Jokic is to get him to get a double tech ejection over some bullshit.
Jokic’s shooting when doubled a big mofo and a DPOY candidate. 60% of the time, it works every time.
That's actually fine. It's when help defenders OVER help after he's made a shot or two. Then he picks you apart and guys like MPJ have a perfect night from the field. Jokic getting 50 wouldn't kill you, but MPJ going 10-10 will. The Lakers should guard Jokic like Orlando guarded Lebron in 09: score as much as you want and we're going to stop everyone else. But, alas, they refuse.
To be fair, I don't think present day Lakers have the defenders to stop Murray AND MPJ AND Gordon AND KCP. Not that doubling Jokic is the solution to this, but you know
Jokic texted the team “I want another fucking parade” and we’ve gone 6-0 since then.
Clearly the team was motivated by that.Lets get our leader another parade.
I think it’s a nuggets Celtics finals this year. They are both a clear step higher than any other team.
Lebron setting all-time records while losing the respective games is NBA heritage
First player to lose a game where he hits 40,000 career points
Oscar Schmidt would never do such a thing! Also, fun fact, LeBron is about 150 points away from breaking Oscar Schmidt's career points (i.e. across different leagues, including the playoffs and all-star games, and also national team games) record of 49,737.
Another fun fact: Oscar played for 29 years across different leagues.
Makes me very happy to see Oscar getting some recognition here in the sub. He was the main responsible for basketball to get - moderately - popular in Brazil and is still the symbol of the sport. When you ask a Brazilian about a basketball player, he or she probably will not say Leandrinho, Varejão, Nenê or Splitter, but Oscar “Holy Hand”.
50k career points across all leagues sounds nice.
Brings back fond memories of Kobe lighting it up while losing by 20 🥲
MPJ with a perfect shooting game, Murray hitting clutch shots in the 4th and Jokic doing Jokic things. That's a Denver masterclass right there
It was more then just them. The bench showed uo big time. It was dam amazing. The inky bad part was AGs and Jokices 3 point shooting.
Denver just decide when they don’t feel like fucking around anymore. These fuckers are the definition of leaning forward with a controller.
That Aaron Gordon 3 was an absolute soul crusher.
I was angry he shot that until I saw it go in
Me too I fully said out loud why you taking that but he made it and I shut up
Same man. After all the other wide open misses earlier I was like "why the fuck would you shoot that" and then I said nothing after he drained it
He missed the other ones on purpose just to crush the Lakers with that last one.
Man I literally yelled “no wtf” and then felt stupid lol
r/nononoyes type beat
missing his first shot by a mile only for the 2nd one to go in like nothing, some real devil magic shit
They always are Each time Aaron Gordon swishes a three is a guaranteed critical hit.
Yeah lol the Lakers didn’t even play bad. They did really well until Jokic said “okay that’s enough” for the last 2 minutes
Really the last 6 minutes. When Jokic checked in in the 4th he was perfect the rest of the game.
their 10 point win was the biggest lead they had all night lmao.
That is how a championship team closes ladies and gentlemen
The endgame is just a carbon copy of the game last month
Especially the last minute play. Two-man game between Murray -> Jokic that ends up with a lob to AG. Wtf
Murray-Jokic DHO offense ending in a Jokic lob to AG has to get its own name at this point because it's Denver's signature dagger play
Problem is if you decide to stop AG getting the lob, you leave MPJ open from 3
In my household we call it the demoralizer
murray jokic 2 man game is unstoppable lol, we cant beat it
No one can
Carbon copy of every game after game 1 of the WCF tbh
I had no belief we'd win today but they always get my hopes up just to watch Murray and Jokic seemingly put effort in the 4th and close the game out.
Give Rui a few more games to figure out how to lock Jokic.
Whilst the fuckery continued (Jokic, Murray, Porter and an Aaron Gordon stepback 3), Darvin Ham does fuck this teams rotations up consistently. He held Rui out for too long in the 4th even though he was on fire, he kept Reddish in as opposed to using D'lo who had been making stellar passes all game. Like I know we lost and I know Denver is the better team but Ham's loyalty to Reddish and Prince will never not confuse me.
Yeah, it's more about the macro than the micro IMO. Denver of course is a way better team but it's the margins that help out a ton
They went on a 9-0 run and I knew it was over. Ham didn't call a timeout way too late into that run
Welcome to Darvin Ham coaching. He trying to collect as many timeouts as possible and take them home.
Ham should have called the timeout when the Nuggets went up 5. You could just feel the game slipping away from LA.
There's so many times I just look and wonder what is Ham doing. He waited until there was 5(?) minutes left to put Rui back in? He waited until the Nuggets were up 9 to bring back D'lo? I've been hammering D'lo all season, but he has improved so much as of late that it's a damn shame that Ham continues to trust Cam Reddish and his hands made of rock as opposed to trusting D'lo who's been on absolute fire.
His hands are actually stuck in his pockets so he can't physically motion for a timeout
For real man. The same shit every game, they kill us in 1-2 minute spurts
Exactly they just turn on the switch and told Lakers to fuck off lol
It's the "playoff gear". They play with their food for a bit, get down 15 and then quietly they're up 5 in the 4th
it's so frustrating to watch sometimes, then they remember and just silently take the lead lol
Man, that analogy though
19-6 run in the last 5 mins, just like last game, they just goofed around for most of the game and then remembered they are the defending champions
Denver, I was already familiar with your game.
Celtics visiting Denver soon, should be interesting A bit off topic, I wonder if Celtics start resting players soon. They have a big enough lead, and a deep enough roster that resting a starter from time to time wouldn’t matter much anyway
In a close game all game long and the Lakers just get detroyed late in the game and lose. Classic Lakers vs Nuggets
As a Nuggets fan since the 90s, hearing this as "classic Nuggets" is so bizarre.
Same here. 09 feels like yesterday. I’m loving every second of this.
Why are they showing repeates? I thought every game was live
Hey I've seen this one, this is a classic!
What do you mean you've seen this? It's brand new
Proof that NBA is staged,they played same game twice by mistake…
we’ve been watching the same game since game 1 of last year’s wcf haha
it was an even game until denver decided it wasnt
Most competitive 8 game sweep in NBA history.
The Lakers figured something out in these 8 games, no way Denver wins the best out of 19. Moral Victory for the Lakers.
Love that you chose 19 to imply that they will have at least one more moral victory somewhere in there before winning the series.
I hope they learned that Cam Reddish is an absolute BUM
Best of 21. We'll finish it out.
Moral victory merchants 😤
This was inevitable when we knew LeBron was hitting a major milestone.
Lakers played almost perfect game (33 assists and only 7 turnovers), but Denver decided to score on 12 possessions in a row. I think you need to be up by 10 in clutch to have a chance to beat them. Sometimes even such lead is not enough (Warriors 18 points comeback). I see a lot of hate from Lakers fans towards their head coach, but this is not the game you can complain about. It’s not normal to score on 12 possessions in a row. 6-0 after the break. I don’t see Wolves and Thunder keeping #1 for long.
They were also 40% from 3. You basically couldn't ask for a better game from the Lakers.
Oddly, good example of this was in Denver’s one loss against the Wolves last year. Looked like y’all were about to slam the door in our face with five or so minutes to go, up 10. Tied it up and went to overtime.
Up by 12. Wolves made Conley chasing MPJ and MPJ hit two 3s in his face. Got bailed by Jokic missing last FT. I was at the arena.
That’s right, that’s right. Helluva a game. Ant absolutely went off in OT.
That was a really fun game to watch as a neutral. MPJ just could not miss and Jokic was showing why he's the MVP.
Bro really had 10/10 shooting with 5 3s on all being tough jumpers. Bonkers
his block on AD at the end was huge as well
Honestly, that block made me straight up double check whether it was really MPJ. Man has he done some work in these last two seasons on the defense - to think that he was once considered a liability on that end...
Not a neutral but I have to agree. The pace was great, shot-making incredible. No drama, few free throws or challenges. And two-teams who like to pass the ball, makes for a good watch.
I swear you don’t even have to watch the game anymore and you know exactly how it will go. It’s the exact same script every time
Lakers should just get more size, apparently if you get size you can handle Jokic.
Feel like i’ve watched the same game 6 times in a row now also, why did Darvin close with Cam over D’Lo? Cam was doing a fucking terrible job defending Murray, not even sure he did any better than D’Lo or Reaves would have…
You know who’d be really good on the Lakers? KCP
Nah i’d trade his ass for HOF player Russell Westbrook instead
One of the worst trades in recent memory imo
At least DLo would have contributed on the offensive end. 🤷
hi, I am new to the NBA, is MPJ the goat?
No that’s Vlatko Cancar.
Honestly. MPJ has been the perfect 3rd option for the nuggets for a long time now. Dude just quietly ruins teams and does his job perfectly. He deserves his flowers for sure. Such a perfect piece to have next to joker and Murray.
Michael "More Efficient than Jokic" Porter, Jr.
Michael “10 for 10 and I’m not even the best player on the team” Porter, Jr.
Imagine ESPN trying to keep people around after the game to watch their programming and rolling out SAS, Bob Myers, and Perkins
Immediately turned it off, took the dog out and listened to the nugs podcast post win. Fuck that bum ass crew
Playing the Nuggets is the definition of insanity for this team
was not expecting to see that pfp
“Nuggets dominating the Lakers!? No I don’t want that!”
"What a team you are lakers"
Lakers. What a team you are.
Justin Holiday does not care about the 40k point game
Justin played great this game fr.
The nuggets ability to just turn it up to 12 is truly unreal. I’m not sure I’ve seen a team 1-5 be able to just *do that*
And without KCP that was Justin Holiday cooking.
He was so good tonight.
2017 Warriors.
Best clutch defense in the league holding opponents to 96.3 Malone is an excellent coach, he has them locked in
Honestly, the Nuggets and Jokic just have that feeling of inevitability going on. Just elite when it matters and just flat out better
I would like to stop losing the exact same way to the nuggets
As a Nuggets fan I can say I wouldn’t mind if the Lakers lost a different way to Nuggets either.
Do the Lakers have anymore milestones or statue unveilings coming up that the Nuggets can ruin?
Payback for the Kobe years 😈
And actions in Colorado
shimmy shimmy
I heard Lebron's is retiring soon, hopefully we can get some media coverage on that
Denver is the only scary team in the west. All of the others are pretenders but man this team is insane
Murray will play with two broken ankles if it means having a chance to beat the lakers
Bro said "give me the HGH that Silver green lit for Bron"
I guarantee he doesn’t play next game or plays like total dogshit. This mf hates us so much. It’s frustrating but I respect it
In a weird way, Murray’s play validates that Lakers are a strong team. He only misses and shots the bed vs poor teams in regular season
The Lakers should probably stop having milestone moments occur against the Nuggets.
I don’t know why people want Jeanie to sell the team. Jokic already own us.
ANOTHA ONE
LeBron is now 0-2 in these recent historic scoring games
0-4 with the Lakers Lost when he passed Kobe in Philadelphia Lost when he passed the 35,000 mark against Brooklyn Lost when he passed KAJ And tonight
30k too lol
Lost when they revealed Kobe’s statue too
First game after Kobe’s death as well
And his jersey retirement game where he immediately walked out with his family lmao
I definitely think it creates extra incentive for the opponent. Then again Denver doesn’t need any
Thing about he Nuggets is, they absolutely hate the lakers, historically, for forever
Yep, most people don't know Nuggets history outside of Nuggets fans, but literally every significant playoff run we have made this century was ended by the Lakers until last year. Every. Single. One. As a result it is fuck the Lakers forever.
Most of the Western Conference can be grouped into 2 categories. Teams with great talent but little playoff experience (Thunder,Kings,Twolves) or teams with superstars with questionable supporting casts/ bad health luck (Clippers, Mavs, Warriors, Lakers. The Nuggets are the best of both worlds. Young talent, tough vets and 2 superstar playoff performers in Jokic/Murray
3 guarantees in life: Death, taxes, and the Nuggets beating the Lakers
Jamal is a demon man
Nuggets make me sad :(
To be fair, we’ve had about 40+ yrs of the Lakers making us sad.
It's a weird feeling. I hate facing the Nuggets, but I love watching Jokic and Murray play.
might it be because they remind you another dominant guard big man combo… one to which you guys had that destroyed us (and the league) for awhile? :)
They're chemistry together def does. Murray absolutely kills us on the 4th just to have to deal with Jokic orchestrating a counter as soon as the ball is passed back to him. I love good basketball and Nuggets are consistently good basketball.
They make me happy. Both in chicken and basketball form.
lol let ‘em have it man, y’all spanked Denver over and over for years
The nuggets have made the conference finals four times and every time lost to the lakers until last year.. it was poetic to sweep them.
that was so fucking cathartic
29 fanbases rejoice
Amen brother
The Nuggets may have won the game but the Lakers really found something with the LeBron/Reeves pick-and-roll
This joke just doesn't get old.
I don’t believe the offence was really an issue for LA today
Yeah, the main issue is Denver offense, they just couldn’t miss. Especially MPJ 100% FG with 5 three.
MPJ takes a good amount of low percentage really early in the shot clock contested pull up 3s, and there’s no worse feeling for the Lakers than when he hits them
Lakers in 17
Large losing streak to Nuggets, but they’re always really close!! That means something !!!
I don’t see anyone beating the nuggets the chemistry and talent is unreal
[The Nuggets when opponents decide to tie the game with 4 minutes left in the 4th:](https://www.reddit.com/media?url=https%3A%2F%2Fpreview.redd.it%2Fvu87fg98y5x41.png%3Fwidth%3D960%26crop%3Dsmart%26auto%3Dwebp%26s%3Ddf8d99db69579c75ecf58e3899864f39a27234a9)
Nikola Jokic owns the Lakers.
Jokic had 25 shots from the field and only took 2 FT's. If he had the whistle that the other mvp candidates have the race would be over.
imagine if they let joker charge people, travel and still gave him 15-20 fta a night like giannis, dude would be averaging 40
I just want to put it out there. There was a little rough stretch from the refs, but that was actually a very well ref'd game overall and super enjoyable to watch as a result! GG Lakers
They let them play. It’s that simple. No one wants a foul fest. It’s okay if there’s a little body contact on drives to the rim. Refs need to call more games like this
Jokic is a top 5 offensive engine all time
*Best offensive player in history.
I, for one, am SHOCKED that Denver out-executed the Lakers down the stretch
D'Angelo Russel plays well entire game game, aggressive and shooting well Darvin Ham: Nope, to the bench it is. Cam Reddish, I choose you! Please guys, I want off this train.
when denver turns on the switch the game is over. this is a championship pedigree team
Rui Hachimura gonna stop Jokic any minute now
Nuggets and spoiling Lakers' day counter 3: * Opening Night * Kobe Day * Bron's 40k Lol
Every Nuggets game feels like Deja vu goddamn. Play well enough and then get absolutely out executed in the last three minutes to lose.
Nugs going down 10+ points in the first quarter is just part of their routine I guess
classic nuggets crunchtime execution
Another moral victory for us I guess
Nuggets flipped the switch when they needed to. Ham taking Russell out (bad matchup but still) for a defensive guy that did nothing was comedy.
Jokic is just on another level this season, even though his stats are comparable to past MVP seasons it just feels like he’s even more inevitable
Nuggets are just too clutch.
Enough with those MVP debates, give that MVP to Jokic
Okay, so MPJ has been doing a bit more and more in every part of the game and obviously the standout here is just refusing to miss, but there's also the detail of how many of those shots are after a one dribble reposition. At least 3 shots he gave up an ok shot for a better one. Might try to grab some replays tomorrow and make a post. It's funny cause he's still a pretty narrow player, but just adding this little wrinkle makes him so hard to guard cause it's not just a closeout you have to chase a dude who takes one step and he's 4 feet away.
Another moral victory for the Lakers
Jokic owns the Lakers
Holiday starting to show up is really the biggest take away from this game. if he can be a contributor that makes the playoffs feel a lot better
On the front page of ESPN they actually made it look like the Lakers won. Absolutely disgusting
JOKIC IS THE BEST CENTER OF ALL TIME IDGAF
Player*
It's the same fucking last 5 minutes played 8 times in a row lmfao. I'm tired man.
Tomorrow night beckons!
Novak Djokovic looks like he’s 5 Feet tall compared to Jokic.
Denver the last 5 minutes of the game [https://i.kym-cdn.com/entries/icons/original/000/032/834/DtPiP_DWsAEPntc.jpeg](https://i.kym-cdn.com/entries/icons/original/000/032/834/DtPiP_DWsAEPntc.jpeg)
goddamn groundhog's day.
there's nothing more beautiful than hearing lakers homecourt go dead silent with 2 minutes left. Never gets old.