Holy ****ing shit.

What a shot.

Gay.

And this series is over.

Holy shit.

As well as he’s been playing, I honestly can’t believe LeBron missed that.

But Murray who blew ass most of the game ****ing ices that shit. Wow.

Ridiculous ending. And also predictable.

Denver is sweeping this series once again and going back to back.

Jamal completely took over in the last 3 minutes of that game. Completely unstoppable.

The NBA has got to be so frustrated that this horse owner keeps winning.

Dang Lebron had that three pointer rattle out with nobody within 10 feet of him. I always think in those situations it's just too open. He'd have probably made it with a hand in his face.

Russell finally contributed anything and the Lakers still lost.

Tells you what you need to know about this series.

Lakers never had a chance. They might steal a game but that’ll be it.

Lakers are -7 in both games with Lebron on the floor.

GOAT

The Lakers could have won either of those games. Just choked it away

You could say the same about several of the games last year too. There was never any doubt Denver was going to close when they had to.

CHOKE ARTIST

16.1 LeBron James misses 24-foot three point pullup jump shot 99 99

He was +2 in this game. 26-8-12-2-2 in year 21 and was the only reason they could even score in the 4th Q.

pathetic

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">THE ENDING TO THIS LAKERS NUGGETS GAME WAS INSANE 🤯<br><br>How does Lebron miss that 3… Guess he really doesn’t have that clutch gene <a href="https://t.co/9iX4pQXXzp">pic.twitter.com/9iX4pQXXzp</a></p>&mdash; x🪐 (@randyswrld_) <a href="https://twitter.com/randyswrld_/status/1782629491006714159?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 23, 2024</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Denver is just playing with their food

I actually think the Lakers are one of their tougher matchups in the league to deal with because of AD (best post defender in the league against Jokic) and LeBron (best creator in the league still when he has energy and pretty much unguardable).

They're gonna roll through the entire playoffs again after this sweep is complete.

LMAO

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">.<a href="https://twitter.com/RealSkipBayless?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@RealSkipBayless</a> reacts to the Lakers Game 2 loss to the Nuggets: <a href="https://t.co/kRuH9wfV2R">pic.twitter.com/kRuH9wfV2R</a></p>&mdash; UNDISPUTED (@undisputed) <a href="https://twitter.com/undisputed/status/1782632711745860030?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 23, 2024</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

No they weren't. They won by a last second shot.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Scott Foster got his revenge on LeBron <a href="https://t.co/Yusmyp1DKT">pic.twitter.com/Yusmyp1DKT</a></p>&mdash; LakeShowYo (@LakeShowYo) <a href="https://twitter.com/LakeShowYo/status/1782630782240194844?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 23, 2024</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Never forget that phantom foul called on LeBron to get Jamal 2 FTs in the last minute (although that doesn't excuse Ham not challenging it).

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">I love the Nuggets/Lakers Playoff games so much. They’re all the same. <br><br>Lebron plays incredible. AD plays incredible. Lakers get huge lead. Bunch of media people say the Lakers are super dangerous….Jokic gets a triple double….Nuggets win</p>&mdash; Big Cat (@BarstoolBigCat) <a href="https://twitter.com/BarstoolBigCat/status/1782629468760100880?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 23, 2024</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Rinse/repeat.

LeBron was the reason they were in the game late. About four possessions prior he made back-to-back threes. Russell made like his first six threes. The Lakers played well. Play stifle the Nuggets all night but the nugs kept clawing back in. It was a sweet win.

Yeah, LeBron really can't play much better than he did in the 4th. Believe he had 12 points in the quarter and back to back scores to take the lead in the final minute and a half. He was giving it everything he had on both ends and came up just short.

Everyone should enjoy this Jokic era while it lasts. You can count on one hand the number of big men in history who can create even close to what this guy can. Just a pure basketball genius.

LE CHOKE LE CLANKED in the clutch, Murray stuck it.....GOAT SHIT! Fraudulent mofo. Got selfish and went away from AD and wanted to be the hero. Got jealous of AD. AD was shooting 91% in the post and they went away from him because of leNarcissist. I Hope they ****ING GET SWEPT!!

Get ya head out from between his legs....ROFLROFLROFLROFL

Really? Then he needs to retire because he didn't FINISH!

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">LeBron at age 39 in year 21, had 26-8-12 with 2 steals &amp; 2 blocks, 12 4th Q points including a go-ahead bucket in the last minute but he missed one shot late so he&#39;s a fraud.<br><br>His haters are just proving why he&#39;s the GOAT. Nobody in history is held to these standards.</p>&mdash; Barry (@BarryOnHere) <a href="https://twitter.com/BarryOnHere/status/1782631818463752586?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 23, 2024</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

ROFLROFLROFLROFLROFLROFLROFLROFLROFLROFLROFLROFLROFLROFLROFLR Bronsexuals are pathetic.

/what about the turnovers down the stretch too?

Nuggets dude pretends to trip or whatever to force LeBron (and his pride) to jack up a 3, instead of scoring at the basket which had been automatic the previous possessions.

KCP flopped to draw an offensive foul on LeBron. Had nothing to do with forcing him into any kind of shot.

And you can't ask for a much better shot in that spot than an open 3 from a 40% 3PT shooter. He just missed it, it happens. He's certainly made his fair shore of those in his career.

Every single person in that arena was hoping he'd jack up a 3, instead of taking it to the hole. Mission accomplished.

Uh, no. An open 3 is the very last thing Denver wanted to give up in that spot (and giving it to them was certainly not part of any defensive strategy). They'd have gladly taken their chances letting LeBron drive to the hole at Jokic and take their own 3 to win it after it if he made it.

"Totally." - Denver's 23.5% 3-point shooting on the night.

In a tie game with one or two possessions, a three is an overrated shot. Simple game theory. At that point you want to take the highest percentage shot not the highest points per attempt.

No clue what that has to do with Denver botching a flop and giving up a wide open 3 to one of the best shooters in the league.

There really isn't a higher percentage shot available than an open 3 from one of the league's best shooters. Denver ****ed up defensively massively there and were very fortunate he missed.

FYI, Denver's entire defensive strategy all game on LeBron PnRs was going over and taking away his open threes (to avoid him going off like he did briefly in that 4th Q and forcing others to score). Mike Malone is no fool. KCP just ****ed up on that final play and they were lucky to get away with it.

Especially given Denver's inability to get a stop when LA drove to the hole. Goading them into a deep jumper was a blessing.

Denver was literally stopping them the entire 2nd half. Did we watch the same game?

LA only scored 40 points in the 2nd half. LMAO

The only time the Lakers effectively scored the entire 4th quarter in the half court was when they left LeBron open for threes on screens and someone thinks doing exactly that was a strategy of theirs at the end?

They were no doubt going to force him into a trap/pass as they'd been doing all game but KCP just flopped on the play and got lucky he missed.

4 minute mark until the end of the game (you know, when everybody's tired):

James 15' Fadeaway Jumper (22 PTS)
Reaves 16' Fadeaway Jumper (9 PTS)
MISS Hachimura 26' 3PT Jump Shot
MISS Reaves 24' 3PT Pullup Jump Shot
James 1' Running Dunk (24 PTS)
Russell 2' Driving Layup (23 PTS)
James 1' Driving Layup (26 PTS)
MISS James 25' 3PT Pullup Jump Shot

Which do you think they shot better with the game in the balance, legs completely gone?

At this point, one HAS to assume you completely missed the end of the game.

Considering you thought a KCP failed flop to gift an open three to one of the best shooters in the NBA was some kind of defensive strategy on the part of the Nuggets, it's hard to take just about anything you have to say about this game seriously.

Denver was very much forcing LeBron into traps on screens to pass to his teammates all game (which is generally exactly how teams have played LeBron for his entire career and how Malone has played LeBron in the last six playoff games). That very much would have been the plan if he had driven the ball there on the Lakers' final possession as well. No reason to do that though when you can get a wide open three from a 41% 3PT shooter thanks to a botched defensive play.

If LeBron drives there, he'll be driving into help where he'll either have to take a tough contested two over Jokic or kick to an open shooter for three that is worse than him. Now a LeBron drive into help is certainly never a bad option given his playmaking ability, but it's not a better option than LeBron taking a wide open three.

Hard to believe this is even a topic of conversation.

Hong Kong Lebron ran out of the press conference.

Whiner.

It happens? Show me MJ missing an uncontested 3 pointer to win a playoff game. Lebron shrinks in the moments that MJ used to welcome with confidence.

From before the series started.

We've seen this exact game probably 5 times in this 10 game stretch. No reason to have expected otherwise.

And like I said earlier - this is not bad luck as much as it is a reckoning. Ham ****ed off with his rotations all season so a team that should've probably been a 3 seed, 4 at worst, is sitting 8. This is a direct reflection of poor coaching.

For the 'regular season doesn't matter' crowd - it damn sure has for the Lakers.

Welp better go find a new head coach I guess.

What is that? Like 7 guys in 2 years or some shit.

Just keep somebody. Anybody. For crying out loud.

Jokie with 10 straight over Lebron. At one point does he pass James on the all time list greats list? Maybe 1 more title?

In fairness, most of the Lakers coaches since Jackson have been shite.

Mike Brown? Mike D'Antoni, Byron Scott and Luke Walton - all garbage coaches. Walton seemed to have some promise but then he went to the Kings and didn't seem to know what the hell he was doing there either. Scott was hired to fail, IMO - they were tanking.

But I don't understand why they fired Vogel. That was another GM LeBron move that was just stupid. James didn't like him - he got canned and got replaced by a dude who really drove this season into a mountain.

I don't think many coaches actually move the needle much in the NBA. But there are more that make teams worse than there are that make teams better. A guy like Vogel probably made a team as good as their talent says they should be - that's a 3 seed out of the West for this Lakers squad, IMO.

Ham took them to the play-in tournament and a 1 and done against the worst matchup in the NBA for them. This is a direct indictment of bad coaching for 60 games from Darvin Ham. But LeBron doesn't dislike him so there won't be any accountability for it.

The "year 21" shit doesn't slide either.

He's been choking in the 4th of the Finals since Dirk showed him his big white mamba.

It's why he's 4-6 in the Finals and will never be the goat, no matter how many extra pointless stat-pad seasons he racks up due to genetics.

An under-appreciated element of Kobe's resume is that he swallowed his pride in 2005 and welcomed Jackson back.

He's the reason Jackson left and deserves some heat for that (though I'm not sure how many more runs that team had left in it; the 2004 Finals showed a team on fumes). But after trying it 'his' way, he reached out to Jackson and they mended fences.

Those 2 titles he won after Jackson came back are a testament to his willingness to grow as a person and player.

James, OTOH, "in year 21" is still out there pulling levers and sabotaging his chances behind the scenes. He was still out there pushing for Westbrook and leveraging Vogel out the door.

He's cost himself rings by simply trying to impose his will on organizations.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="zxx" dir="ltr"><a href="https://t.co/tUJIJvXZYp">https://t.co/tUJIJvXZYp</a> <a href="https://t.co/JNUGbQqq33">pic.twitter.com/JNUGbQqq33</a></p>&mdash; Barry (@BarryOnHere) <a href="https://twitter.com/BarryOnHere/status/1782786026546581736?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 23, 2024</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

It seems fairly obvious they'd have given anybody a run in the West (but the Nuggets) as well with LeBron and AD playing this well in combination too.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">LeBron James how has SEVEN game winning or game tying shots in the final :01 of playoff games. <br><br>No one else in the last 26 years (as far back as the <a href="https://twitter.com/Stathead?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Stathead</a> database goes) has more than 2. <br><br>The most clutch player of his generation &amp; it’s not close or debatable. <a href="https://t.co/hOhrJIHXDE">pic.twitter.com/hOhrJIHXDE</a></p>&mdash; nick wright (@getnickwright) <a href="https://twitter.com/getnickwright/status/1650836050615365635?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 25, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Career eFG% on shots to tie/take lead in final minute of 4th Q/OT:<br><br>Duncan: 42.2%<br> LeBron: 41.9% &lt;----- (choker)<br> Steph: 40.8%<br> Durant: 38.7%<br> Harden: 38.0%<br> Kobe: 37.7%<br> Kawhi: 36.3%<br> Wade: 32.6%<br> Russ: 30.7%</p>&mdash; Barry (@BarryOnHere) <a href="https://twitter.com/BarryOnHere/status/1510343462218047493?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 2, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">LeBron ON: +11 in 387 minutes<br>LeBron OFF: -60 in 93 minutes <a href="https://t.co/tmZ57piSCk">https://t.co/tmZ57piSCk</a></p>&mdash; ɴᴏᴛ (@georgemikan) <a href="https://twitter.com/georgemikan/status/1782644253434212483?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 23, 2024</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

And I think Russell had found himself until he vapor-locked against Murray and the Nuggets again.

If they manage to stay away from Denver, they're a WCF team. And there are teams that can/will play Denver harder than LA can.

It's just such an opportunity lost. And it's entirely because of a disinterested effort from the coaching staff for the first 3/4 of the season. Ham just throwing his hands up and saying "Hey - Vanderbilt is injured - what do you want me to do?" just pisses me off so badly.

He blew this season for them. Just completely torched it.

This illustration infuriates me and shows how bad hero ball is. And this idea that player x HAS to take the shot. Nobody has to take the shot above anyone else. When they think they do you get terrible eFG percentages like this. This is the next evolution of analytics getting coaches and star players to realize this.

I 100% admit that I'm a bandwagon Nuggets fan, so I certainly have no claim to any sort of basketball knowledge.

But I just have to say I find it kind of hilarious how similar this thread is compared to the last time I poked my head into any NBA discussions (last year's Lakers-Nuggets series). It's still pretty much just discussion about whether Lebron is awesome or sucks and KCC posting tweets to refute the idea. ROFL

(For the record, I thought he was about the only Lakers player who looked like a threat yesterday, so it's hard to understand the hate, but I know I have very limited context.)

Nobody thinks he sucks. It's more Ken Pom Connections mental illness on the subject on display

You could go back a year or a decade (or even two in LeBron's case) and it would be the same here. People are threatened by his greatness.

Also, yeah, he sort of singlehandedly kept them in the game in that 4th Q yesterday when nobody else had anything going. It was honestly one of his more complete playoff performances in a while given some of the defensive plays he made like the old days.

Sucks? No, I don't think anybody outside of perhaps Clay might think that.

Unwilling to accept he's the greatest basketball player who ever lived despite every bit of evidence that suggests to the contrary? Yeah, I'd say so. There's not one player in basketball history who could have anywhere close to the kind of impact he did on the game yesterday in year 21. Instead of simply appreciating that, we have people trying to denigrate him for allegedly not being clutch (despite being probably the clutchest playoff performer statistically in history). Very sad stuff.

It's shit like saying Stephs titles don't count when LeGM cried his way to Miami to form the "Little 3" ROFL

Clay owns you. Especially if you think that.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">LeBron had a 73 win team begging KD to join them just to defeat him. LeBron haters know that this makes LeBron the GOAT, which is why they pretend it never happened b/c if they were to ever acknowledge it, it would make all of their agendas 100% useless.<br><br>The extreme insults &amp;…</p>&mdash; Barry (@BarryOnHere) <a href="https://twitter.com/BarryOnHere/status/1782166069257392439?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 21, 2024</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

I'm not unaware that he's trolling if that's what you're suggesting.

Mental illness on full display.

It's never too long until the resident MJ propagandist chimes in.

The guy that constantly posts the ultimate troll Barry like he's some authority or genius wants to accuse somebody else of trolling?

LMAO

Once again, nobody bringing up MJ but you.

Fun fact:

If you search for "Michael Jordan" posts by me, you get 17 pages.

If you search for "Michael Jordan" posts by KCC, you get 20 (the max).

I'd suggest actually reading the thread next time before making confident statements about things you know nothing about.

What a stat. I like this one better:

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Michael Jordan shot 6-43 (14.0%) from 3 in the 4th Q/OT of playoff games in his 4 title seasons with a regular 3 point line (1991, 1992, 1993, 1998).</p>&mdash; Barry (@BarryOnHere) <a href="https://twitter.com/BarryOnHere/status/1782637843396927646?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 23, 2024</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Accuse? Clay would take it as a badge of honor.

Anthony Davis was a monster yesterday. It was the sort of All-World, all-court performance they got him hoping to see in these situations.

Just a damn shame it was for naught.

Few guys are capable of games as impactful as the game Davis played yesterday. And it still wasn't enough. And it just never is.

{sigh}

LMAO

What the **** does LoneWolf bringing up MJ have to do with you bringing him up when responding to a post I made that had absolutely nothing to do with MJ or LoneWolf?

I still can't figure out if you're reeruned or just very disingenuous.

So Thunder vs Nuggets for the West?

OKC may be a young team but they have beaten the Nuggets 3 straight. Do like me some SGA

You are no different/better than Clay, weirdo.