Jokic in 4th quarter against the Timberwolves l 2 PTS | 3 REB | 1 AST | 1⁄7 FG | 0/2 3FG | 21% TS
Jokic in 4th quarter against the Timberwolves: 2 PTS | 3 REB | 1 AST | 1⁄7 FG | 0/2 3FG | 21% TS
https://www.espn.com/nba/game?gameId=401869395
I can’t believe he passed up that floater
That hurt my soul. Like dude, that’s your shot.
Just a staggering decision from him especially with how difficult of a pass it was. Ant nearly stole it outright
I absolutely feel like Jokic gets tight in these moments sometimes
He has these random playoff games where he just refuses to be aggressive
Calling him a choker would be too harsh he’s had a ton of great moments as well but even as a fan I can’t say he’s consistently rose to the big moment like a LeBron or Steph he’s a bit streaky which isn’t the worst but also isn’t always good enough
If it was anyone else people would call it choking
Yup
The MVPs and ring buy him some time before that happens.
If anything the mvps should make people more critical of his playoff performances.
steph has crumbled a million times in the clutch lmao
The bad decisions down the stretch looked like exhaustion to me.
People really undersell what jockeying in the paint with Rudy Gobert and Julius Randle for 35min does to your body
Of course, it’s important to give them credit as well here. Great defense.
Just the work Jokic has to do on the boards is tough. Gobert is fighting for everything and he’s strong AF AF.
The tipped board straight to Donte was a costly mistake from Jokic
Crazy cuz he had just yammed it on Rudy a couple possessions before.
Jokic isn’t clutch. He missed the dagger 3 in game 7 vs the wolves, in 2024. Missed the same dagger 3 from the same spot vs USA in the Olympics, later that summer. Every now and then he puts up a good performance in the clutch just from sheer volume of of games played, but as someone who’s been watching the nuggets for the last 3 years, he’s not clutch against good defenders. He only consistently performs in the clutch vs defenders that aren’t equipped to deal with him properly.
Fwiw Ant had no right being as close to stealing it as he was
Idk if that was the pass or if getting it through cleanly changes anything, I just want to call out how impressed I was by Ant’s midair read
Remember last year against okc he absolutely choked in the second half of game 7 and just outright gave up
When jokic quits he really quicks
He did a Ben Simmons. Same result too, with Braun getting fouled and missing 1 free throw
I don’t think we’re going to see Jokic refuse to shoot for the rest of his career tho. Just a hunch
But he did that and he went ice cold in Game 7 in 2024.
And 2025
Well hopefully he won’t need back surgery
But imagine if we did!
I had to double check my eyes because I thought it was Ben Simmons out there when he passed it.
He did it all game. Made no sense at all
Can only assume he thought ant would block his shot
Ya but our rim protector ant was there (obvi kidding but I think no joke ant has all 5 of our blocks this series)
That was a bad play from joker. Just absolutely not being aggressive
Looked like Draymond in the short roll, never thought I’d see the day
Ben Simmons war flashbacks
3-4 flops too
This subs golden boy? The leader of the ethical hoops crusade? Surely not
SGA should just keep hooping. If Jokic flames out for the 3rd year in a row even Jokic cult glazers like Bill Simmons will have to admit SGA or Wemby is the best in the world
They’ll blame Murray before they say SGA is better than Jokic
I genuinely don’t think Shai will ever recover from how deep the narratives run icl. Even if he wins MVP and FMVP again I think his public perception is just entirely cooked
lol Lebron turned around his public perception from 2011. Dirk turned it around from 2006, If they can do it, so can SGA
Nah. Shai unfortunately has 95:5 hate to like ratio (in r/NBATalk it is close to 99:1). For Lebron it was probably 75⁄25 at most. For Dirk, no one really hates on him even before 2011.
you think NBATalk is bad. Go take a scroll on r/NBAmemes
I dont understand why that subreddit exists. Its clear the people there are absolute casuals that dont have the smallest understanding of the game . The memes are not even funny. Just regurgitating Facebook looking low effort memes.
Nbatalk is literally a Luka and Jokic sub
There was a lot of Dirk hate back then because he was a European star and a lot of people in the media and league didn’t want to give him a lot of credit till he won that title.
The euro fans suck on him to the point that you can’t consider him hated anymore though. Even when Dirk lost as a 1 seed, it was “crickets” compared to Shai losing in game 3 in Denver just last year lol. There are levels to this.
I didn’t say he’s still hated.
I’m saying the optics around him from when he came into the league till he won his title weren’t the best. Especially after they choked to the “We believe warriors” after winning 67 games. People called him soft, not a winner, and etc until he drug that 2011 team passed the Heatles.
I’m talkin about hate to like ratio. Sure there are people who hate on Dirk but his euro fans backing alone makes the ratio 50⁄50 at most.
Nbatalk is not very bright so I wouldn’t really care about them
Nah Shai already won and he still gets the hate. People treat him differently
Shai doesn’t get as much credit for his victory due to Hali being injured in Game 7 yes, but if he does it again, people will have less excuses.
I don’t really think they were as hated as Shai is tbh. Maybe recency bias but
Dirk was never hated but Lebron was the most hated athlete on earth in 2011, what SGA is experiencing is mild compared to Lebron (and heck even mild compared to KD).
No one is burning SGA jerseys
KD one is fair. LeBron felt a little different because no one was really questioning his greatness, they just hated his decision. People legitimately think SGA is entirely manufactured by the NBA/referees. Real human beings think he’d be average at best if he didn’t get “the best whistle of all time”.
Naw you’re misremembering, there were definitely people that questioned Lebron’s greatness especially after 2011. You had people unironically agreeing with Skip Bayless during that period of time. Also Kobe fans used to argue that Lebron’s all athleticism and he’s a far worse basektball player than Kobe due to lack of skill/clutch mentality. There were definitely people that thought that Lebron’s a average player without his athleticism similar to how some people think Shai’s a average player without a good whistle.
LeBron was infinitely more hated after The Decision. And it got even worse after 2011 finals. I was too young then but IIRC even al-Qaeda complained about the Decision
People hated him but never really questioned his greatness. People legit think Shai sucks and is entirely buoyed by his whistle lol
Shai didn’t join the heatles like LeBron. That was driving the hate, not how he played.
I can’t remember another player being hated purely off their actual play like this. It’s not even just Shai, it’s what Shai represents lmao. And it is so deserved.
Had me til the last part 🥀
Deserved. The flops are ridiculous. As long as he’s rewarded for playing soft he’ll still be hated. He’s good enough to get by without the pushoffs and ghost fouls, but he still does it anyway. The hate is deserved
It’s really not
100000% is. The league shouldn’t reward his bullshit. You’re just blinded by hype moments and aura
As evidenced by the game we just watched, Shai is not the only player in the league to sell calls and is not the only player in the league to benefit from missed calls. He’s just the only one who gets every single call he receives posted everywhere on social media.
Because the thunder won a ring foulbaiting and playing bullshit “they can’t call every foul if we never stop fouling” defense on the other end. None of the other notorious foul baiters in recent history have won a chip doing their shenanigans
The whole world got to see him inventing contact and getting a whistle on ghost fouls. They won their ring playing genuine unethical basketball, I’m not sure why you’re surprised they’re getting hate.
Doing a disservice to your own team to suggest they weren’t playing physical ball in the finals. Nembhard and Nesmith didnt work their asses off to smother Shai for their fans to say they didn’t play physical defense
He did it to himself.
He really didn’t. The narrative FAR surpasses what the reality is.
Half the SGA narrative is on his teammates tbh. Any mildly above-average level of foul baiting is gonna look absolutely egregious when you’ve got a dude like Dort who’s allowed to play basketball like Vontaze Burfict at your side
SGA’s been the best in the world since he was robbed of MVP in 2024 🤷♂️
Players have had to do much less to lose the torch, especially with another all-time resume behind them. If the most likely outcome happens this year, there will be a lot of retrospectives on who really was the best player in this era.
If SGA wins this year I don’t even think it is even debatable that Jokic was best of this era. Just my opinion but I don’t value regular season stuff like MVPs once you win 1 or 2. Playoff success matters more
Whoever wins ring #2 first from Jokic/Shai and shit even Giannis probably if he switches teams will hold the throne to this era from 2020
This is like saying Steph was equal to Lebron in 2018 because they had the same amount of championships
It’s a team game at the end of the day. And the Thunder have by far the best supporting cast in the NBA.
A front office not having to overly cover for big weaknesses can create a better team around you. People love to act like the two aren’t linked, but they very much are. The player more conducive to winning is better. It’s that simple.
Lowe’s better than Magic and Larry? I swear I’m not even a Jokic hater but this bullshit makes me root against him.
To be fair Bird contrary to his reputation also had a ton of terrible scoring playoff games he dropped back to back 8 point games in the Finals one time
The real problem is that Bird was also a very underrated defender while Jokic’s defense is actually bad and means that he can’t afford to take any days off when he’s not absolutely dominating on offense he’s not playing at the required level
Really the bar for Jokic offensively to be better than a Magic or Bird is to be MJ or LeBron on offense and you absolutely can’t be playing like this if you’re going to do that
I stan Zach Lowe but that was rough to hear from my goat
To play devil’s advocate, it’s not a terrible take. Talent-wise, Jokic is a generational/all-time playmaker like Magic and a do-it-all superstar like Bird (sans the consistent defense). The championship discrepancy is what keeps Jokic from seriously being in the same convos as those guys, which was Zach’s point IIRC. Jokic needs at least one more to enter that echelon, and even then it wouldn’t be enough for some.
But when you consider that Magic got to play with arguably the third best player of all-time, Bird had an absolutely stacked supporting cast, and both played in a league with less parity, maybe the convo about talent should have more merit.
I actually do too. That’s why it was so disappointing coming from him.
Cant even flop into 10 more free throws. Bum
“it’s not about the number of free throws it’s about how you get them”
300 pound man flying 20 feet at any contact 😂. The one in the last couple of mins from Rudy had me dying
300 pounds is nothing these days. Have you seen inflation lately?
300lbs isn’t as stable as it used to be
He’s was trying anything possible to get the 6th foul on Rudy haha
Shit is embarrassing. He’s too good to be doing stuff like that.
I’m here for Rudy Gobert propaganda posting
He was also playing with 4 fouls, and then 5 for quite a while
And 3 before that too
started on 0 would you believe
Went straight from 0 to 3 though
Can someone verify this?
Doesnt matter, Jokic dunked on him once so we should clown him instead
The back to back posters by Rudy and Jokic on each other were awesome, they should both be celebrated
Story of his career
Same let’s go Rudy
He gets such a bad wrap. It’s truly astonishing how little credit he gets.
He gets such a bad wrap
wraputation
Oui oui
He was worth every pick and more. Trades like that shift the culture
His propoganda machine going to be working overtime on this one
Yea, people will flush out his bad performance with a clip of his dunk on Gobert
The NBA instagram posted the dunk twice after the loss without any reference to the final score
I can’t even lie, the dunk was awesome. But Rudy was awesomer.
What if his “bad performance” being 24/15/8 in a 3 point playoff loss is the reason people think he’s good at basketball. Woah
He shot 8-20 and choked in the clutch yes this is a bad game 😭😭
Man you really doing P/R/A for someone that touches the ball almost every possession. Such a simple mind.
nuggets fans about to bring out the spreadsheets explaining why this was actually a good fourth quarter
Vorp Dorp says….
Bill Simmons loading up 3 podcasts and 10 reels
Gonna be a rough two days that the Denver fans have to wait before they start pumping out the new OKC/Shai hate threads
Jokic propaganda would make Hitler and Stalin jealous
This is a Gobert stat line
Gobert is more efficient than that
Seriously, put some respect on the season’s FG% leader.
With Gobert on the floor, he shot 1⁄8 from the field, had just 4 points. People need to put some respect on Gobert’s name.
TELL EM BROCK
Gokeem Rulajuwon had him in hell
It felt like Jokic got 20 straight points in the 3rd once they took out Gobert for Naz Reid. It felt like Jokic was like finally lemme take advantage while I can
My favorite part was the mega flop after Rudy bitched him 3 straight possessions.
The ultimate sign of respect between two Europeans
Not to mention the Wolves dominating in the post because he provides no rim protection. Also gave up a huge rebound to Gobert. Idgaf about the vorps and the schmorps.
lol! Nice. Getting tired of the untouchable status his glazers put on him. We ain’t forget sub 40% shooting in 3 games last year either
Jokic vs OKC last year in Games 2 through 4 was was averaging 21 ppg on 43 TS% with more turnovers than assists
He also went full LeBron 2011 in game 7.
We def use to undervalue advanced stats in NBA discourse but I think we currently overvalue it. Jokic playstyle correlates well with advanced stats for whatever reason. I don’t care what the advanced stats say Jokic is not a good defender.
Wolves with 52 points in the paint.
And and Randle looking at Jokic in the paint like BBQ chicken
That flop against Rudy where he just… fell down was hilarious though. I’d have been PISSED if I was a wolves fan.
Saw it coming after the previous possession
Chokic
It’s been there all along. Waiting. And finally it is spoken accurately. Chokic lives.
RUDY
I’m a big Jokic fan but he definitely has to be better in the playoffs to be truly up there with the best
He still puts up big numbers in the playoffs don’t get me wrong but the trademark ultra-efficiency that is really his best case for being this GOATed player hasn’t come along with him outside of 2022 and 2023
Like it’s not that he doesn’t have great games he certainly has plenty of them but the level of consistency he’s shown recently is of a top 20 player not of a top 5-10 player you can’t afford your efficiency to fall off this much and be at that level when you’re not really contributing much on the defensive end
Sub 40% in 3 games last year and Caruso slowing him. And I don’t want to hear no OKC scheme shit. Caruso on Hakeem or Shaq or KAJ or Wilt is getting wrecked. And let’s not get into the defense traditionally the anchor role for a superstar big. Dude is obviously an all time great but this glazing over stats and beating a fluke 8th seed is too much.
Caruso just beat him up. Disgusting game.
The irony if the 23 run would be his Anthony Davis bubble run of playoff efficiency peak. All the planets aligned for those two in those years.
I have seen it many times when a team gets a ton of favorable calls against the wolves. They start to rely on it completely and forget to play actual basketball.
Omg yes
Jokic and Murray combined for 4 points in the 4th quarter. Lmao. I’ve never seen them both go quiet like that late in the game
Can’t wait to see what the excuses will be now. They say Steph gets away with anytime he has a bad game and all the praise when he has a big game, but imagine if this was him even lol. Heck, imagine if this was KD…imagine if this was prime Lebron who so many people on NBAtalk and even this sub claim has been surpassed by Jokic…
Prime LeBron would have every espn segment on him after a game like this lmao
he did have that in 2011 indeed
After 24 game 7 aswell
If this were Luka, that’s all the NBA media would talk about until next season and would somehow drop him to 67th team All NBA
Lmao
NBAtalk how 1000 upvote for shai bad game but are quiet for jokic 😭
steph still gets away with this lol always has. jokic / lebron / durant rarely have inefficient duds
Rightfully so. 2011 in the Finals was the worst performance by a superstar ever. Lebron fans want it forgotten but nope.
Yeah except Lebron has all the other 9 times he went to the Finals and the 4 times he won…
I’m not disagreeing with you.
Gobert locked him up
Shoutout big ru
That’s defense.
I hate that experts will say he just didn’t have it. Gobert was spectacular.
Gobert had him in the torture chamber.
Nikola Jokic such a good teammate for having a terrible 4th quarter to distract everyone from the fact that CPOY finalist Jamal Murray didn’t score in clutch time.
He is better than prime lebron stop the excuses. Now he needs murray to win?
I’m just a Jamal Murray hater
That shot over Gobert at the end was such a terrible decision too
Honestly, Gobert delivered one of the most impressive defensive performances of the last decade.
Don’t worry no one will remember in a week
He did a Ben Simmons on that floater
Rudy Gobert tho
Him and Murray’s constant moving screens and flopping drives me up a wall. Clown basketball
Shaq is in shambles right now.
Shaq is taking a shit on a teammate as we speak
Poor Kenny.
Oh my God, he killed Kenny
My GOAT got clamped by Rudy. 💔💔
Dude was hit by multiple snipers. What did you want from him?
I was so focused on how poor he played in the 4th until Murray overshadowed it with the dumbest 2 point attempt possible in a close game lol
Probably the worst clutch performance by Jokic and Murray I’ve ever seen
When he has a triple double against a medicore team in the regular season:jokic is better than prime lebron!
When he plays poorly in crucial playoff games, it’s jamal fault! Aaron Gordon! No other top player in the nba gets this grace and excuses
Abysmal. He didn’t look at the rim the whole 1h and it essentially cost them. He repeatedly was passing out of easy lane floaters for other player 3’s and nugs went cold in late 2q and 3q.
Rudy with maybe the most impactful 2 point 1-4 game of all time
One of the best defensive performances I have ever seen in that 4th quarter
Rudy showing up big time this series
RUDY GOBERT
Jokic with the Ben Simmons pass.
analytics can’t save you
Yikes
Look whether or not you like shai, we can all agree that he doesn’t pass on that drive. He would’ve taken the shot.
(I excited to run my propaganda)
Fed Nuggets to the Wolves 😉
/s
Rudy had him in a gd cage
“MVP”
When jokic puts up a 2011 lebron game noone says anything.But yet hes somehow better than lebron.
He’s bettet bounce back in game 3
he needs to work on his clutch game, i wanna see that spurs-nuggets series please
It’s the curse of the MVP finalist announcement. SGA was basically a ghost in the 4th quarter of OKC’s game 1 too.
I’m interested to see what NBATALK has to say about this performance more than anything Lool
Vintage Jokic 🔥🔥
Rudy Gobert
I quite dislike Gobert, but damn did he lockdown every one, probably the best playoff game I’ve seen of him
Top 10 player of all time, they said.
“best offensive player in the league”
MVP
Gobert’s playing him well but that wrist has to be bothering him
I don’t care how many MVPs he wins, I would never take him over Russell, Kareem, Wilt, Shaq, Hakeem, or Moses Malone.
still better than prime Lebron
bait?
edit: nvm i see🤣🤣 you right they do have mfs who really think bro is better than prime lebron. i wish i could give you a reward
Go watch dallas 8 point game kid