Essentially Sports / Shahul Hameed
Denver: As the Denver Nuggets extended their streak against the LA Lakers, the NBA world got loud with tons of opinions. The latest one came from the popular sports presenter, Kevin Wildes. The Fox Sports star presenter not only dropped a reality check but shut down the LeBron James fanboy, Nick Wright. King James & Co. suffered their 9th straight loss against the Nuggets and Wildes was ready with the stats to predict the result of the ongoing series.
In the post-game analysis of First Things First, Kevin Wildes pointed out how the Nuggets aren’t only relying on the star duo of Jamal Murray and Nikola Jokic. He presented the stats where almost five of the Nuggets players had a 50% shooting percentage. Apart from that, he also took a dig at the Lakers defense.
Wildes said, “The Lakers defense was better this year or last year? Actually, they were better last year… The defense has gotten worse… I know we are saying it’s all on Joker and Jamal Murray. When we watch the game, ahh there is Aaron Gordon, there is MPJ… KCP, former Laker.”
The defending champions have their starting five in prime form, with four of them averaging above 15 points against the Lakers. Jamal Murray turned out to be the pick of the lot, averaging 29.8 points followed by Nikola Jokić with 26.6 points. As this lethal team marches forward toward their back-to-back championship, the Lakers’ defense looks far from stopping them.
This regular season, the Lakers’ defense rating was 115.3 points while it was better last season with 113.9 points. Meanwhile, the LA side’s all-time defense rating against Joker & Co. is 117.4. Moreover, the team’s defense was just criticized by Kevin Wildes, but also by Anthony Davis himself.
After a thrilling 150-145 win over the Indiana Pacers this season, AD said, “(We were) just terrible defensively… We can do what we want offensively… but we have to be able to defend.” He further said, “We’ll take it, but we have to learn from it as well.” It looks like they still haven’t learned from their mistakes.
Nick Wright, ahead of the series, dropped a confident statement about the Lakers’ ability to win the series He said, “You know who I know doesn’t think the Lakers should avoid Denver? LeBron James.” While the rest of the NBA world considered it bad luck for the LA side to take on the Nuggets in Round 1, Wright dropped a confident statement.
He argued that King James had been playing his best basketball of the season and hinted that the 39-year-old superstar would take out the Nuggets. Unfortunately, James couldn’t live up to Wright’s expectations tonight. After an outstanding first half, Lebron James fumbled miserably in the second half.
Even though he dropped 27 points tonight, he gave away 7 turnovers in his 41-minute stay on the floor. On top of it, he also got posterized twice in the game. The superstar also had a nasty fall in the final few minutes while he penetrated the Nuggets defense. Lebron James slipped and injured his elbow on the fall.
He remained on the floor for a few seconds and got back on his feet. Will Akron Hammer seek revenge for the humiliation in Game 2? Let us know in the comments below.
