Nikola Jokic won the first NBA Championship of his career after defeating the Miami Heat in five games in the Finals.
While many praised Jokic for his historic playoff run, Sports Illustrated’s Chris Mannix shockingly took a shot at the Joker. Mannix disregarded Jokic’s playoff run because he didn’t defeat the Boston Celtics, Milwaukee Bucks, or the Philadelphia 76ers in the NBA Finals. JJ Redick recently blasted Mannix for disrespecting Jokic’s playoff run.
“Not willing to put it as an all-time great run is just the most asinine statement when regardless of what he followed up with,” Redick said in a recent episode of the Old Man and Three podcast. “It’s the most asinine statement because Jokic was like, the first to do this, the second most ever. Come on man, what are we doing? All-time run.”
Redick then addressed Mannix’s comments about Jokic not defeating Giannis Antetokounmpo, Joel Embiid, or Jayson Tatum in the NBA Finals.
“Guess what? Those teams weren’t good enough, two of them lost to the Heat, and one of them couldn’t get past the Celtics and couldn’t close them out,” Redick added. “The teams weren’t good enough. How is that a knock on Jokic? It’s ridiculous.”
(Starts at 0:50)
Nikola Jokic averaged a stunning 30.0 PPG, 13.5 RPG, and 9.5 APG in the 2023 playoffs. It includes the Joker’s 30.2 PPG, 14.0 PPG, and 7.2 APG in the NBA Finals as well.
On top of that, Jokic became the first player in NBA history to have the most points, rebounds, and assists in the playoffs. As Redick mentioned, how’s that not an all-time great run?
Speaking of facing the Heat in the NBA Finals, the Jimmy Butler-led team eliminated the Bucks in the first round (4-1). The Heat reached the NBA Finals after winning against the Celtics in the Eastern Conference Finals (4-3). And as for the 76ers, they were eliminated by the Celtics in the Eastern Conference Semifinals (4-3).
Nikola Jokic Enjoyed The Denver Nuggets’ Championship Parade
Nikola Jokic has maintained a carefree attitude after winning the 2023 NBA Championship. So much so that the Joker even lost his NBA Finals MVP trophy for a brief period of time.
The 28-year-old wasn’t even excited about being a part of the Nuggets’ championship parade in Denver. However, Jokic changed his mind about it after seeing a sea of fans coming to his support in the parade.
“You know that I told that I don’t want to stay on parade,” Jokic said. “But I f*****g want to stay on parade. This is the best.”
It’s good to see Jokic change his mind about the championship parade. After all, there’s no guarantee that he will have a chance to experience it again for the remainder of his career in the NBA.
We sincerely appreciate and respect you as a reader of our site. It would help us a lot if you follow us on Google News because of the latest update.
Thanks for following us. We really appreciate your support.
