The Denver Nuggets, the top-ranked team in the West after the regular season, took on LeBron James and company and sent them to an unprecedented 4-0 defeat. The series between the Miami Heat and the Boston Celtics was similar until recently, but the latter softened the score with a win in the last match in Florida, extending the series.
The Denver Nuggets swept the LA Lakers. Miami close to the goal
Denver, a great team that focuses solely on its own game
Team Denver Nuggets work and play like a well-oiled machine, as the LA Lakers have already experienced, who, after the shortest possible series of games between these two rivals, are already saying goodbye to the dream of winning the championship ring again. Denver is too strong at the moment. They are beating all in their path on the wings of the great serbian Nikola Jokić, and it seems as if no obstacle is too high. Not a game goes by where Jokić doesn’t score a triple-double. He has even set a new competition record with nine to so far in the playoffs.
Nikola Jokić Most Valuable Player
Nobody can compare to the performance of the player from Sombor, Serbia. He shoots the ball with confidence, usually well over 50%, which is an incredible fact in itself. He keeps his teammates busy on offense, collecting assists, rebounding, closing space on defense, and directing his teammates at the same time.
“In the end, he (Jokić, op. a.) and Jamal (Murray, op. a.) played practically alone and I have to admit that this was his idea. He suggested it on the bench and I have to admit that coach Jokić did a great job today.”
joked Denver’s high-spirited strategist Mike Malone.
LeBron overshadows his opponent (again) with his statements
After the series ended, LeBron James, still one of the best players in the world, put on a show of his own again.The 38-year-old still has a vast amount of basketball knowledge, his experience is invaluable, but that also has to show somewhere else. Experts agree that his years of dominance are over. No wonder, then, that he is already thinking, even out loud, about retirement.
“I can’t say it’s a successful season. I’ve been playing for titles my whole career. Making it to the conference finals, that doesn’t satisfy me. I’ve been there many times and it’s no fun not to be part of the grand final. We’ll see what happens in the future … I don’t know, I don’t know. I have a lot to think about, to be honest. I still have a lot to think about personally, how to continue with basketball … We still have a lot to think about,”
were the closing words of LeBron James. Many also believe that the moment for such words came at the wrong time. The day was about celebrating a team that had advanced. Interestingly – at the same time, another star, Carmelo Anthony, announced the end of his career, having shared a lot of success with the US national team and coming to the NBA from the same draft.
Mike Malone upset by the media, but the atmosphere in the dressing room was not disturbed
Throughout the series, Denver couldn’t shake the feeling that the public as a whole was more in favour of their opponents. The LA Lakers were definitely more supported by the media, even when they were trailing in the series, which was especially disturbing for coach Malone, who made his feelings clear in his press conference. But even that failed to diminish the great atmosphere in the locker room of this season’s first finalists. You can watch the video below.
Miami is making a strong run at the Finals
In the East, we still don’t know the winner. Although it looked like a similar story to the one on the other coast, Boston is obviously not going to give up so easily. Jimmy Butler and company came out strong and took both away wins. They repeated the performance in the opening game on their home turf, but victory eluded them, or rather the Boston basketball team did. The series now returns to Boston, where the home team will be hoping for a true miracle. No team in the history of the league has ever made up a 3-0 score deficit. Will the Celtics be the first?
Tatum superbly blocked by Miami
The reason for Boston’s less than convincing performance is the fact that the Miami Heat stopped the team’s first star, Jason Tatum, perfectly. This was especially true in the final part of the game, where Miami’s defence made it virtually impossible for him to make good contact with the ball. In the first two games of the series, for example, he didn’t score a single basket from the field and all his points in the fourth quarter came from the free throw line. Jaylen Brown, Smart and the others have not been able to come close to success without the concrete help of their playmaker. The last game provided for some changes in the defensive system and the result is already here, but perhaps they are just a bit too late. More will be clear soon.
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