When You Finally Realize You'll Never Beat Them 

The media should give credit to the Nuggets rather than talking about LeBron all the time

_In my honest opinion, Wolves/Nuggets is for REAL basketball fans._

He's now feeling how Toronto felt 😂😂😂😂😂

So... the Lakers commit the fewer fouls than any other team and get the most fouls called in their favor, but the people who question that are the "conspiracy nuts"? Stop lol.

MPJ, AG, and Jokic might be the best frontcourt in the league

I thought the series would be more competitive this time, but I forgot that Jamal Murray turns into prime MJ as soon as they regular season ends

I'm a Lakers fans and even I didn't think they had a chance against the Nuggets. They got swept in the WCF last season and both teams were pretty much the same going into these playoffs. There was no chance.

People at work kept saying how the Nuggets were outclassed by the Lakers the entire series. Maybe, but if you're really that outclassed, how come you have more points at the end of the game than the supposedly better team? 😂 "Dude you suck. We've got your number. You barely even won..."

1:56 “End of an era”? There hasnt been an era to end. 😂

Nuggets: “We dont shoot threes” Michael Porter Jr: “Whose we?”

I guess watching the games, and seeing with your own two eyes the level of protection that LeChoker gets from the refs makes you a conspiracy nut. Who knew...

I like the jazz and original music you use better than that generic new music you've been using

People need to stop using Lebron's age as an excuse when he plays bad and as an accomplishment when he plays well.

Coming from a lakers fan they foul a lot. In the examples given they even fouled a couple times and it wasn’t called. To try and say it’s not favorable is crazy

5:05 THAT'S BECAUSE THE REFS NEVER CALL FOULS ON THEM! HOW CAN Y'ALL BE THIS BLIND!!!!

The only coaches that could manage LeBron, scared him off.

NO DEFENSE HAVING HARD TIME GETTING THE DEF REBOUND. The importance of having a REAL POWER FORWARD & CENTER.

Besides AD who balled out in this series everyone else deserve a type of blame even Lebron due to his lack of leadership sometimes

Lakers fumbled every 20-10 point lead in game. catastrophic .

Murray reminds me like his John Starks from the 90's Knicks. That role fits him so well.

The Lakers foul a lot, they don’t get called for the same fouls.

It's over and it feels so good.

if this guy retires the nba will be alive again , no drama no crying, no narcist, no flops and just like kobe era and jordan era it will be exciting and more focusing on pure games , especially antman , banchero and wemby who are great to watch.

I agree with Andy but the biggest problem for the lakers is the reliance of ad and bron they play rlly goood but the lakers personnel is to small

LeBron great? Nah. If all the travels and offensive fouls were called, and no defensive fouls he baited were called where would this self claimed all time great be? He's barely in all time top 50.

This is a great great video. Excellent points backed by not only great evidence and facts to support, but footage too! Unbiased, but still touching on popular opinions either way. Bringing up new points, new questions, new perspectives, and new answers. No one I've ever seen has said it this way though. The Nuggets are literally the Lakers/LeBron's kryptonite. A team with an unselfish leader, who has no ego, with team loyalty, & supports his others, & doesn't stat chase. Vs a team with an extremely selfish leader, with a ginormous ego, with no team loyalty, constantly puttting his others down & making them worse, & stat chases like crazy.

Let’s be honest. There was no way LA was going to win the series. Denver was way too overpowered.

Great breakdown Andy!

It’s been over. If the lakers matched the rest of the league in free throw attempts, they’d get blown out by the nuggets every game and be just as bad as the pistons.

Great video

"The Lakers don't foul" -- Really? While there are instances where this is true (their defense is truly late in rotation and thus no foul), there are also instances wherein fouls just aren't called against the Lakers. It's not a conspiracy: from all stats for 2 years nows, the Lakers get the benefit of the calls AND non-calls. "Jamal Murray" -- 'shoots anywhere' sound familiar? A dominant center and a clutch guard that can shoot from anywhere: Shaq and Kobe. So while it's not an apples-to-apples comparison, especially comparing player vs player, there's something of a synergy there. Also in both instances, Murray and Kobe aren't players you can replace with just any other guard (to pair with Jokic and Shaq) and expect to get the same success. Murray can also playmake for a 2-headed offensive system with Jokic, shooting from anywhere in this paint-and-3-pt-line era, while Kobe was an elite defender as well as a closer from anywhere in the court; both perfect for a Center that does their most damage in the paint.

looks like the era of "intelligent white guy who can pass" is back

I love the Nuggets. Everything that the refs and the commissioner are trying to force the league to be, the Nuggets are the opposite and they are the best team in the league for it. How the finals get officiated will be interesting to watch. Adam Silver doesn't want to see the title go to a small market team, that posts plays more than anyone, and shoots the least amount of 3's. The Nuggets are Adam Silvers worst nightmare. I hope that the Nuggets get legitimate officiating. It's sad that I even have to hope for this, but it's the NBA.

‘Lakers don’t foul’… actually is ‘nba refs are told not to advantage lakers’

Good video man

I think the Nuggets are dominant because they can adapt to any defense. They're not a one dimensional team. It's hard to guard them because you don't know what to take away. Play small? They'll kill you in the paint and on the glass. Play big? Murray will go for 40 and they'll kill you in transition. Force Jokic to give it up? That's exactly what he wants. Clog the paint? They have good shooters.

This video is the perfect use of the sad trombone music

actually Murray will come to mind

There's nothing the Lakers, Warriors or Suns can do. It's Jokic moment for the next 3-4 years, until the Wolves and Okc figure it out (Wemby needs to wait for 7-8 years, it doesnt matter how talented he is, it's a team sport). And Denver waited until Porter Jr and Murray were healthy enough and they got Gordon, the missing piece. That's competition, sometimes the luck is not on your favor anymore. I thought the Lakers have the perfect chance to become a dynasty after that ring in 2020, but they didnt have enough luck after that, ended up like the 83 Sixers. Even if every superstar would like to retire as Russell or Kareem, that's not possible everytime, and that's ok, LeBron and Curry did the best they could, every superstar have their respective shenanigans, these casual fans need to chill.

Over reliance on both are making them to be a mid table NBA team and with them about to be eliminated by Denver Nuggets,they need to rely on an important draft pick as well as signing some world class players and trading out the unwanted ones from the roster this coming NBA summer,good friends!!!

The Nuggets are just playing old school fundamentals basketball. It's nothing fancy, it's just by the book. Because even tho L.A. has the ft advantage, it didn't matter because Denver is ready to play down to the wire basketball if need be.

jokic is indestructible. have you seen his brothers? now you know why

10:42 I agree on this part. The last time the Lakers defeated the Nuggets was when they still had Howard and McGee. When AD was on the bench, they had these two guys defending other big men in the league. Now they're out of their roster, it's now tougher for them to defend Jokic and Nuggets.

The Lakers were ahead for most part of the games in this series because the nuggets were confident that in clutch moments they will make big plays after big plays and they can make the lakers commit crucial turnovers in the end games.

Hi Andy, can you do a video of lopsided rivalries just like Nuggets vs Lakers and LeBronto and other ones like these?

I am loving this new NBA. Because there's no meta. Not single superstar based teams, not big threes, not big bois beating each other up. Every team has new combos that can work if planned right. Now its a chess match between coaches. Or better yet a yu gi oh duel where you gotta play your cards right.

Nice vid as always. The shades on Trey and Joel were justified.

You could slot in ANY superstar in NBA history in LeBron's place, and the result would be the same

This man is a stereotypical diluted Bron fan trying so hard to cope! 😂

Incoming second retirement announcement

This video should've been made months ago. Not at one point during the season should anyone have thought Lakers could make a run this year. Lebron been stat padding & playing irrelevant games to get his stats up. Zero impact when it matters

Now lebron finaly knows how derozan and lowry used to feel when facing his cavs

Back when smallball became I think I heard or read somewhere that it's not the rise of smallball but the rise of skillball, just the most skilled players are the smaller ones. The nuggets now led skillball to the logical conclusion where they have the most skilled AND the most physically dominant players.

LeBron should have guarded jokich but we all know why that didn't happen.

Fantastic breakdown on this two more then familiar foes, big up Andy

Lebron's era ended in 2017

Imo joker even tho he is great is also benefiting greatly from the Steph curry effect on basketball

2:35 beautiful factual breakdown of what makes Jokic such a monster threat

Jamal Murray is one of if not the biggest Big Ballz player for playoffs of all time, Porter Jr. Gordon are the forward line that both covers offense and defense with a perfect balance, KCP is solidified as one of the best "old school" 2 guard ever, he make open shots, he defends, and he occasionally run point when Murray or Jokic was crowded, which if you don't know is the original job for a 2 guard, the nuggets starting five is as good as 96 Bulls, 01 Lakers and 17 Warriors. At the same time, the wolves have very good 8 players rotation, everyone plays well together, and they have Ant this new MJ (he might not and prbly not gonna get there, but he sure has MJ and Kobe in him), they figure out how to take the positive out of Gobert not the negative, this matchup is a dream for all the real basketball fans, there hasn't been two teams that are good in all aspects face to face for a while, it's always style vs style. But no, it is not about the Nuggets nor the Wovles, it's the Lakers and Suns being beat, it's Lebron and KD, it's even Bronny for god sake.

i think people are reaching when LeBron's on the court the lakers are great at this stage of LeBron he shouldn't have to be your best player or top scorer.

From the video…this Denver team sounds like a good 80’s/90’s team--Jokic posting up more than anybody, them not relying on the 3, playing good defense, having good chemistry, winning with only 1 All Star, etc.

We’ve had this conversation about Murray every year including the bubble

Also reminder that the lakers drafted Jaden mcdaniels in 2020 and traded him to the thunder for Dennis Schroeder. Also passed on Jacques jr. last draft. Two players that would have made a crazy difference.

when you do something well that no other team either does or does anymore, the only thing that can stop you is yourself.....if everyone else has a majority of players who specialize in 3s or guarding 3s, that leaves alot of real estate to use, and if you can get to them and are good at it, you are at the advantage because now they have to beat you at your own game

12:04 is just beautiful and only the Joker could do this

Well it's his call to make and I can only speak for myself i wouldn't leave that money on the table that is my motivation I truly think I couldn't do 2 more years

I don't understand why they didn't kept Dwight. Not saying he was the answer, but it didn't hurt to have someone as strong as he is guardian Jokic, not to mention, giving AD some time to rest. Hell thats how they stopped Jokic in the bubble, just throwing big bodies at him with Dwight, AD and even McGee, because damn, watching Hachimura trying to do something was absolute pain.

22ppg on 35/20/69 shooting splits against the Spurs in 2007 along with 4.5 turnovers per game. Scoring just 21 points three games in a row Vs Celtics in 2008 on terrible shooting splits. Blowing a 2-1 lead Vs Celtics in 2010 with a peak 15 point performance on 3-14 shooting in game 5 Complete meltdown in 2011, blown 2-1 lead, outplayed by Jason Terry, scored 8 points in a Finals game whilst being completely healthy Saved by Ray Allen in 2013 Vs Spurs after he had 18 points in game 1, 17 points in game 2 and 15 points in game 3 Choked the third time (no charm) against the spurs in 2014. I can see a pattern here Outplayed by KD in 2017 Pretended to have a broken hand in 2018 LOL Failed to make the playoffs in 2019 after activating "playoff mode". Got embarrassed several times, including getting clamped and blocked by Mario Hezonja on a potential game winning isolation play Sent home in the first round in 2021 after being a preseason favourite to win the championship. Didn't make the playoffs in 2022 after having second best preseason odds to win the championship 2023/24 - won 1 out of 13 games against the Nuggets whilst having AD on the team putting up prime Shaq numbers

This is why I believe the Celtics are the best matchup for denver. And there are two games against one another, you saw their game plans collide and the only reason Boston lost were free throws and one player playing badly. These two things are easy fixes - the issue is hoping that Boston can get there

LeBron will not stay in the extremely competitive west. He wants to go to the Bucks for another championship title, but Giannis dispises LeBron's easy-route mentality. Since LeBron is working with Embiid during the Olympics, LeBron will most likely go to Philly.

Not jokic its Murray

This dudes theory on the Lakers not fouling but shooting the most fouls is a conspiracy in itself jfc

That's what you get when you have a Player-GM in LeGM 💀💀

Nah, Lakers fouls the same amount as any team, the refs just don't call them. Last foul called on AD got reversed even though we can clearly see him fouling jokic in slowmo.

Boston vs. Nuggets in Finals, it’s gonna be a wild series

It’s funny with me when comes to Lebron, I’ve always respected him while preferring teams he faced in the finals (Outside his run in Cleveland with the chip). When he moved to LA, I was for some reason wanting him to go to Denver because I thought he could roundhouse the NBA with Jokic due at the time nobody talking about his passing and his IQ, Malone was an underrated coach that can put teams in their place with well communication, and Murray can shoot the ball, and see that his biggest Achilles down the stretch in career is very ironic to me.

But they have beat them before in 2020?

I’m interested to see how the nuggets size will matchup against the timberwolves size

Jokic:"how many times do we have teach you this lesson old man!"

Not a mention of coaching here. Michael Malone outcoached Darvin Ham.

“The 3 pointer is the most inconsistent shot” meanwhile curry: do i look like a joke to you?

as far as no one to guard jokic, i thought the narrative was always lefraud could guard 1-5 at an allstar level.

2020 wasn't _that_ long ago and the Lakers manhandled Denver with their size and depth in the post. Look at what Minnesota is doing? LA messed up when they made AD their only bigman. In 2020, they rotated McGee, Howard, and AD on Jokic and it worked because Jokic had to chase AD around on defense which often caused foul trouble, then he had to bang down low against Howard's physicality which wore him out, and Javale McGee's length eliminated many of his rebound opportunities. They tried a similar tactic with Rui but it isn't the same. The 2020 Lakers had a roster capable of winning multiple Titles and they simply flushed it down the toilet. That's really all it is.

It’s nba when big market teams in a deep playoff run

The problem for the Lakers isn't even the Nuggets! They might not even have a Nuggets series next year Biggest problem is that It's just too hard to win 4 consecutive road series. LeBron is 40 in December, he's earning $51m and he can't expend enough energy in the regular season to get them a top 3 seed in a packed Western Conference full of good YOUNG teams that are hungry for success and determined to play hard every game. In 77 Finals a 1, 2, or 3 seed won. 97% A 4 seed Celtics won in 1969, and a 6 seed Rockets with Hakeem won in 1994-5. That's it! Only 5 teams outside the top 4 seed even made the Finals. Lebron at 40 is not going to be the exception.

This dude talking about Lebron being a great defender brings up Westbrook’s “What?” response in my head…

No blame for Lebron's so called "clutch" play in the 4th quarters vs this team. Shocker.

Im just here after Nuggets lost to the Wolves. That game was still better than lakers matchup

This was just a bad take. The foul discrepancy was obvious, and there had never been a Bron-Laker era.

refs are not calling fouls against lakers that is the TRUTH lalakers "not commiting fouls" is the truest forms of bs if i ever heard one Jokic gets to the line in very low frequency playing against any team comparing it to his postup play, meaning for the same play embiiatch is getting abnormal calls his way so the theory "lakergirls not commiting fouls" is a complete crap and bs

If the refs call more fouls on the opposing team, it only makes sense that they aren't going to make calls against the Fakers. Watch the games, and you see the Fakers get away with murder. LeBrick gets to act like an ass all he wants, but a player on any other team gets tossed if they act the same way.

wait i just learn that mpj is the same height as AD 😨😨

Reggie Jackson And Jokic is Deadly

Lakers cant close out games, imagine getting beaten by 2 buzzer beaters, 1 buzzer beater is slick, but the 2nd one shows that the Lakers never learned and the Nuggets is just BETTER.

You forgot to mention Murray hitting 2 game winners on the lakers

LeBron should just retire or he will get embarrassed again next season

The media should give credit to the Nuggets rather than talking about LeBron all the time but hey honestly, I thought the series would be more competitive this time but out of nowhere Jamal Murray turns into Prime MJ once the regular season ends tho

Lebron is a braindead defender. just look at the clips. he's not in the game when it comes to defense its a 4 vs 5 matchup. also the "end of an era" is not coined correctly. we have the Spurs, Mavs, Golden State era's during Lebron's career.

Had Howard AND McGee and they swapped out neutralizing him.. but dropped both after a title win.. make it make sense

It's not about if the lakers commit foul or not, it's about the Lakers getting fouled as much..900+ is something