LeBron James showers the Nuggets with praise after they send him home
May 22, 2023, 11:31 PM | Updated: 11:32 pm
LOS ANGELES—The Denver Nuggets may have ended LeBron James’ career on Monday night as the superstar legend admitted he may retire and could’ve played his last game.
While maybe unlikely given the fact everyone on the planet expects James to stay around the NBA to play with his son, it is now possible the Nuggets pulled off their first-ever series win against the Los Angeles Lakers and the team’s first-ever sweep of anyone to get to the franchise’s first-ever NBA Finals and wrote the final chapter of James’ career all at the same time.
But like star Kevin Durant before him, most of James’ focus after the 113-111 Game 4 loss in the Western Conference Finals was on the Nuggets and Nikola Jokic.
“Me and Anthony Davis were just talking and we came to the consensus that the Nuggets were one of if not the best team we’ve played in the four years we’ve been together,” James said. “You can’t make mistakes against Joker, even when you’ve done a great job he does it Larry Bird style and you *tip your cap.*”
More from LeBron James on Nikola Jokić.
"Everybody gets cracked up into his stats, but I don't think a lot of people talk about (the mental) part of his game. Maybe it's not talked about because a lot of people don't understand it. But I do. He's special." pic.twitter.com/AzB8DtINsK
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) May 23, 2023
James played all 48 minutes and scored 40 points, it just wasn’t enough to overcome the 55 points from Jokic and Jamal Murray as the rest of the Nuggets stepped up to fight off the fighting-for-pride Lakers.
“I know how great Joker is,” James said. “There are certain guys in this league who play the game the way I like to play, he’s one of them. You’re always off balance because of his abilities—seeing plays before they happen, there are not many guys like that. I already knew he was a beast before the series started.
James made a point to credit Jokic’s mentality and call him special.
Jokic won the first-ever Western Conference Finals MVP, tallying an eighth playoff triple-double on Monday night, breaking an NBA record for most in a single postseason run.
If this is truly it for LeBron, score the playoff matchup with Jokic: 1-1.
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