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Nikola Jokic #15 of the Denver Nuggets and LeBron James #6 of the Los Angeles Lakers.
THE the Los Angeles Lakers And LeBron James didn’t beat the Denver Nuggets In more than a year, regular season or playoffs. Their last regular season victory came in December of the 2022-23 season.
And the Nuggets, of course, swept them in the Western Conference Finals last season.
“They have five threats on the ground at the same time. And their biggest threat can do anything, and that’s Joker [Nikola Jokic],”James told reporters following the last defeat on March 2. “It makes things very difficult. »
When asked specifically if there was an answer for Jokic — who finished the win with 35 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists — and what it might be, James was blunt.
“There isn’t,” James said.
Jokic scored 19 points in the second half and 13 points in the third quarter alone, as the Nuggets outscored the Lakers 66-48 after the break. The two-time MVP averaged 20.2 points, 10.4 rebounds and 6.5 assists against the Lakers in his regular season career.
All of this paints a worrying picture for the Lakers’ playoff run, which is already looking heavy on the road.
The Lakers are 12-19 away from Crypto.com Arena this season.
Even more concerning, they are 17-22 against teams with a winning record. They have a lead of 5.5 games on the Utah Jazz for 10th place Western Conference standingsgiving them a strong hold on the final spot in the Play-In tournament.
Lakers’ LeBron James names 6 ‘unanswered’ players
James was asked by reporters how many other players in the league he would consider “unanswerable,” a label that fitted him during his career. Not surprisingly, he without hesitation compiled a list of his contemporaries.
“Joel [Embiid]Joker, Lucas [Doncic], Giannis [Antetokounmpo], Steph [Curry]K.D. [Kevin Durant]”, said James. “Just to name a few.”
There are eight MVPs, 50 All-Star appearances and 40 All-NBA selections in this group.
The Lakers could even face up to four players from this group in a potential playoff run to the NBA Finals. Their recording 9-3 in December is promising. But their place in the rankings and their record against the winning teams are much less encouraging.
LeBron James talks about the next 40,000 point scorer
James surpassed 40,000 career points in the competition. When asked after the game if he could see other players finishing their careers having achieved that goal, James gave a response that was more thoughtful than anything else.
I have no idea,” James said.
“Obviously you have to play the game for a while and get lucky when it comes to injuries and things of that nature. You have to take care of your body, you have to be present on the field, and then you also have to be productive.
“We have a lot of good guys in our league who can score the ball. And if they stayed healthy and played long, they could eclipse him. But you can’t explain what might happen. So I can’t sit here and say who that would be in our league today.
James highlighted former Lakers teammate Russell Westbrook with an average of a triple-double over an entire season for the first time Since Oscar Robertson.
He also highlighted his overcoming Kareem Abdul Jabbar for the all-time record.
Josh Buckhalter covers the NBA and NFL for Heavy.com with a focus on the Chicago Bulls, Los Angeles Lakers and Minnesota Vikings. He has covered the NBA and NFL since 2016, including on FanSided, Last Word on Sports and Clocker Sports. He is based in Villa Park, Illinois. Follow Josh on Twitter and Instagram: @JoshGBuck Learn more about Josh Buckhalter
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