Nikola Jokic was absolutely dominant in the playoffs against the Minnesota Timberwolves and the Phoenix Suns and it was more of the same against the Los Angeles Lakers.
Jokic led the way with averages of 27.8 PPG, 14.5 RPG, 11.8 APG, 1.3 SPG, and 1.3 BPG as the Denver Nuggets swept the Lakers and after Game 4, LeBron James literally tipped his cap to the Serbian.
“When you have a guy like Joker who as big as he is, but also as cerebral (as) he is, you can’t really make many mistakes vs. a guy like that,” LeBron said. “And even when you guard him for one of the best possessions that you think you’ve guarded him, he puts the ball behind his head, Larry Bird style, and shoots it 50 feet in the air, and it goes in. He did it like 4–5 times this series. So, you do it like this to him (tipped his cap off).”
(starts at 3:04 mark):
Jokic hit some absolutely ridiculous shots in this series. In Game 1, there was one at the end of the third quarter which led to Anthony Davis smiling at him in disbelief.
NIKOLA JOKIC BEATS THE BUZZER, ANTHONY DAVIS CANT DO ANYTHING BUT JUST LAUGH 😂 pic.twitter.com/sAetPokiI4
— NBA Retweet (@RTNBA) May 17, 2023
In the fourth quarter of Game 4, with the Nuggets leading 107-104, he sunk a huge three-pointer over Davis again while being completely off-balance. It was the shot LeBron was talking about, as Jokic had the ball behind his head like Larry Bird back in the day.
NIKOLA JOKIC 🤯
WILD FINISH IN LOS ANGELES.
Get to ESPN for the final 2:01… Denver leads by 3! pic.twitter.com/NWTGIROfNE
— NBA (@NBA) May 23, 2023
As LeBron says, sometimes you just have to tip your cap to the opponent because they were just that good. Jokic certainly made quite the impression on James in this series as he sang his praises during his press conference.
Nikola Jokic Reacted To LeBron James Tipping His Cap To Him
Jokic deservingly won Western Conference Finals MVP for his terrific performances and during his postgame press conference, he was told about LeBron’s comments. In typical Jokic fashion, he had a hilarious response.
“You know what? I’m going to take that as my signature shot,” Jokic said when asked about that shot in Game 4. “I’m joking. I don’t know in that situation, you’re just trying to shoot and just trying to score… Being off-balance, I’m off-balance my whole life so that’s kind of normal for me.”
(starts at 5:57 mark):
Jokic has gotten to the point where there is no shot he attempts that can be characterized as a bad one, somewhat like Stephen Curry. He hits these crazy off-balance shots with such regularity that all you can do is just sit back and applaud him. Davis was unquestionably the best defender in these playoffs and even when he tried his absolute best to bother Jokic, there were plenty of times when it just didn’t matter and that is a scary sight for the rest of the league.
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