If Denver wants to repeat, Jokic has to step up...

[HotRocks34]

Hard to start fast if your #2 option has 0 points in the first half

[LaLover11]

Honestly maybe Jokic should hold a press conference in the summer, team up with other Allstar, All NBA, Future HOFs and talk about how many rings he's going to win by stacking the deck in the league. Not 1... Not 2....

But Jokic isn't that big of a ***** to do that.

Last time Jokic was this in this situation he had a meltdown while being guarded by Dwight Howard. We will see how he reacts this time


Sent from my iPhone using RealGM mobile app

And he still played better than LeBron in the 2011 Finals.

He had a positive NRTG in the series and shot 53% from the field.

When you're at his level, that's what a "meltdown" looks like.

Says it all.

2009 was peak athletic LeBron not 2011

LeBron also joined a whole new offense with Wade wanting to be #1 option because the Heat was his "team"

There is plenty of pre game/post game interviews with Wade & LeBron mentioning that Wade wanted to recreate the MJ/Pippen Duo with LeBron playing Pippen role.

After Losing the 2011 Finals, Wade on record said he is giving up the Keys to LeBron and and will play a supporting role also #2/#3 option with Bosh

Once LeBron got in the Driver seat for the Heat.... That's when They went Back to Back Champions!!!

They could've done a 3peat but that 3rd Season Wade was in his Kawhi Leonard era being injured all season and extremely inefficient & old broken.

Bosh was also injury/health plagued and falling off just like Wade. That's why LeBron left because that Heat Core fell apart and it was a one man show again like his previous yrs in Cleavland.

Jokic is playing with the Best Starting 5 in the NBA with multiple yrs of chemistry & a great coach

He should have no excuse to lose this series if he's supposably better than a Prime LeBron.

Reality is that 39yrs Old LeBron just threw some haymakers to this Nuggets team in the 1st round & Nuggets are feeling that damage with tired bodies and real injuries to KCP & Murray.

Jokic looked like his Tank is empty already in game 1
If he doesn't refuel and dominate with the superior team
He will never be compared to the True Greats again after this series

Losing in the 2nd round as a champion is pathetic

[Woodsanity]

Hard to do well with your 2nd option is averaging a PER of 14.3 with a TS% of 46.8....

[HotRocks34]

Last time Jokic was this in this situation he had a meltdown while being guarded by Dwight Howard. We will see how he reacts this time


Sent from my iPhone using RealGM mobile app

And he still played better than LeBron in the 2011 Finals.

He had a positive NRTG in the series and shot 53% from the field.

When you're at his level, that's what a "meltdown" looks like.

Says it all.

2009 was peak athletic LeBron not 2011

LeBron also joined a whole new offense with Wade wanting to be #1 option because the Heat was his "team"

There is plenty of pre game/post game interviews with Wade & LeBron mentioning that Wade wanted to recreate the MJ/Pippen Duo with LeBron playing Pippen role.

After Losing the 2011 Finals, Wade on record said he is giving up the Keys to LeBron and and will play a supporting role also #2/#3 option with Bosh

Once LeBron got in the Driver seat for the Heat.... That's when They went Back to Back Champions!!!

They could've done a 3peat but that 3rd Season Wade was in his Kawhi Leonard era being injured all season and extremely inefficient & old broken.

Bosh was also injury/health plagued and falling off just like Wade. That's why LeBron left because that Heat Core fell apart and it was a one man show again like his previous yrs in Cleavland.

Jokic is playing with the Best Starting 5 in the NBA with multiple yrs of chemistry & a great coach

He should have no excuse to lose this series if he's supposably better than a Prime LeBron.

Reality is that 39yrs Old LeBron just threw some haymakers to this Nuggets team in the 1st round & Nuggets are feeling that damage with tired bodies and real injuries to KCP & Murray.

Jokic looked like his Tank is empty already in game 1
If he doesn't refuel and dominate with the superior team
He will never be compared to the True Greats again after this series

Losing in the 2nd round as a champion is pathetic

You know what is even more pathetic?

A champ losing in the first round like in 2021.

Bron failed hard in 2011. That's forever.

Maybe Jokic will have a series that bad at some point, but I doubt it.

Non-GOAT doing Non-GOAT things. It's expected.

[TinmanZBoy]

Hard to start fast if your #2 option has 0 points in the first half

that's exactly why Joker needs to step up, Jamal may not make shots, but he is never lack of aggression... Joker only starts to be more aggressive when Denver was already down big... he needs to do it early

[HotRocks34]

Hard to start fast if your #2 option has 0 points in the first half

that's exactly why Joker needs to step up, Jamal may not make shots, but he is never lack of aggression... Joker only starts to be more aggressive when Denver was already down big... he needs to do it early

Can't step up if the defense can sag on you because the #2 guy doesn't have to be guarded.

Jokic isn't a guy who is going to shoot over triple teams regularly. That's not how he plays.

He can go full out but if other guys don't join the party, it won't matter.

[Hobo4President]

Lol at the salty lakers fans in here

[CIN-C-STAR]

He does need to be better than he was tonight.
I had Minny winning this game tho and I still got Denver in 7.
We'll see how Murray looks going forward.

[1993Playoffs]

Jokic is treated with Kid gloves in this site.

[Devilanche]

The whole team have to do better , not just him.

He could do with more efficiency and less turnover , but basketball is still a 5 man game afterall.

Edit - turnover for turnaround.

[TinmanZBoy]

The whole team have to do better , not just him.

He could do with more efficiency and less turnaround , but basketball is still a 5 man game afterall.

that's for sure... but he is the leader, the MVP, he needs to do more to have a good start... coach Malone was blaming the second half defense, but the slow start has a lot to do with it... it is exhausting to climb back from a large deficit, can't do it every damn game...

[BigGargamel]

Dude has been underwhelmingly passive out of gate in every damn game so far in this playoff... you are the MVP, you need to be aggressive to set the tone... Denver has been trailing at the beginning of every game

Technically Denver has been tied at the beginning of every game.

[AleksandarN]

Jokic is treated with Kid gloves in this site.

Who is? I see alot of posters saying he needs to step up.

[XTC]

He had a bad game. It happens.

It’s crazy that 32/8/9 is a bad game, but yeah I guess by his standards it was.

32 points on 11/25 shooting (2/9 from 3)

9 assists on 7 turnovers

Jokic is the best player in the NBA, but he needs to be better than what he was tonight.

[Ssj16]

This may sound cliche but whichever team has the best player for the majority of the nights will win the game. This will typically be Ant vs Jokic and Ant was the best player tonight.

I also agree that Jokic will need to go to another gear to beat this Wolves team. I initially wasn't sure how serious the Wolves were as contenders but after game 1 I'm a believer now.

[Jasen777]

He had a bad game. It happens.

It’s crazy that 32/8/9 is a bad game, but yeah I guess by his standards it was.

32 points on 11/25 shooting (2/9 from 3)

9 assists on 7 turnovers

Jokic is the best player in the NBA, but he needs to be better than what he was tonight.

He looked tired and sloppy. But 2 fewer turnovers and 2 more makes and they win. I'd say Murray and KCP not looking 100% are larger issues of concern.

[sp6r=underrated]

He had a bad game. It happens.

It’s crazy that 32/8/9 is a bad game, but yeah I guess by his standards it was.

In fairness 32/8/9 is like 27/6/7 in 2012 and Lebron would get ripped for those games all the time.

[Infinite Llamas]

He had a bad game. It happens.

It’s crazy that 32/8/9 is a bad game, but yeah I guess by his standards it was.

In fairness 32/8/9 is like 27/6/7 in 2012 and Lebron would get ripped for those games all the time.

I’m going to go out on a limb and say that if Jokic had Wade and Bosh instead of Murray and Gordon, Denver probably wins tonight.

[jkvonny]

Lol at the salty lakers fans in here

Well....

When you have these smaller market (younger) teams (Nuggets, TWolves, Kings, Thunder, etc) that has owned them in recent years and probably for years to come. It's gonna happen. lol

[Pistol_Pete]

Jokic has to carry. No other way. Murray, MPJ, Gordon are way too inconsistent to count on. He’ll have to start dropping 40 pieces or else it’ll be peace out Denver pretty fast.