SI:AM | The Nuggets Are Finals-Bound for the First Time
Good morning, I’m Dan Gartland. I thought we were going to see another classic LeBron James performance last night, but Nikola Jokić had other ideas.
In today’s SI:AM:
⛏️ The Nuggets complete the sweep
📉 The decline of starting pitching
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LeBron’s heroic first half wasn’t enough
At halftime of Game 4 between the Lakers and Nuggets last night, it looked like LeBron James was going to single-handedly stave off elimination for Los Angeles with a historic performance. He had 31 points on 11-of-13 shooting in the first 24 minutes as the Lakers carried a 73–58 lead into halftime.
But then the Nuggets showed what they’d shown over the first three games of this season—and over the rest of the playoffs: When they’re firing on all cylinders, there isn’t a better team in the NBA. Denver outscored the Lakers 36–16 in that third quarter to erase the big halftime deficit and held on to win, 113–111, to complete the four-game sweep.
The biggest key in that pivotal third quarter was no surprise. Nikola Jokić is capable of taking over a game in a variety of ways. In that quarter it was on the boards. He scored 13 points and recorded 10 rebounds in the third quarter alone. Jokić didn’t win the game by himself, though. Jamal Murray had 25 points on 10-of-18 shooting, and, Aaron Gordon, after being quiet offensively in the first three games, had 22 points on 9-of-14 shooting.
“We came to the consensus [that] this is one of the best teams, if not the best team, we’ve played together for all four years,” James said after the game. “Just well-orchestrated, well put together. They have scoring. They have shooting. They have playmaking. They have smarts. They have length. They have depth. And one thing about their team, when you have a guy like Jokić, who as big as he is but also as cerebral as he is, you can’t really make many mistakes versus a guy like that.”
In addition to his big scoring night, Murray also made the game-sealing defensive play in the final seconds of the game. With the Lakers trailing by two with four seconds on the clock, James got the ball on an inbounds play and drove toward the basket. Murray and Gordon collapsed on him, and Murray grabbed the ball with both hands as LeBron tried to get off a shot.
The play secured the Nuggets’ first trip to the NBA Finals in franchise history. By polishing off the sweep, they earned themselves a nice long break before the Finals begin June 1. It also brought an end to a remarkable Lakers season that appeared doomed before the team went through a complete overhaul at the trade deadline and surged into playoff position. Los Angeles’s second-half success provided a blueprint for how the team could be constructed going forward. Surround James and Anthony Davis with defensively capable, efficient scorers who are content with being a third or fourth option but capable of stepping up when asked to. You don’t need a third big-name player like Russell Westbrook.
But the Lakers might have an even bigger roster-building challenge on their hands this offseason. After the game, James didn’t commit to coming back for a 21st NBA season.
“We’ll see what happens going forward. But I don’t know,” he said. “I don’t know. I’ve got a lot to think about, to be honest. I’ve got a lot to think about, to be honest, just for me personally going forward with the game of basketball. A lot to think about.”
The Nuggets are moving on, but leave it to LeBron to seize headlines even in defeat.
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The best of Sports Illustrated
Anthony B. Geathers/Sports Illustrated
- For today’s Daily Cover, Chris Herring spoke with Carmelo Anthony, who says he’s “at peace” with retiring, even though he never won a championship.
- Tom Verducci compiled more than a dozen pieces of evidence that show how starting pitching is on the decline in MLB.
- Conor Orr writes that it wasn't surprising to see NFL owners approve flex scheduling for Thursday Night Football, but the league’s mid-week showcase isn’t worth the trouble of trying to fix it.
- A’s broadcaster Glen Kuiper, who was previously suspended for using a racial slur on air, has been fired.
- Tiger Woods will not play in next month’s U.S. Open.
- Albert Breer writes about Josh Harris, who is on the verge of taking over the Commanders.
- Gilberto Manzano ranks the NFL teams who improved most this offseason.
The top five...
… things I saw yesterday:
5. Senators forward Brady Tkachuk (brother of Panthers star Matthew Tkachuk) drinking out of the PGA Championship’s Wanamaker Trophy with Brooks Koepka at the Panthers-Hurricanes game.
4. Sam Reinhart’s goal for Florida. It was the only goal of the game as the Panthers went up 3–0 in that series.
3. Kevin Kiermaier’s strong throw to nail a runner at the plate. It was the fastest outfield assist (97.9 mph) by a Blue Jays player since the introduction of Statcast in 2015.
2. Jarred Kelenic’s 455-foot home run.
1. Nikola Jokić’s circus shot over Anthony Davis to beat the shot clock. (And Mike Breen’s excellent call.)
SIQ
Three NBA teams have found themselves down 3–0 in a seven-game playoff series and forced a Game 7. Which teams were involved in the most recent series to reach that point?
Yesterday’s SIQ: On this day in 2003, which LPGA star began play in a PGA Tour tournament when she entered the Colonial in Fort Worth?
- Michelle Wie
- Annika Sörenstam
- Lorena Ochoa
- Natalie Gulbis
Answer: Annika Sörenstam. When she accepted a sponsor’s exemption to play in the event, it was met with all sorts of silly backlash. Vijay Singh, the Tour’s 2003 money leader, announced that he would withdraw from the tournament if paired with Sörenstam for the first two rounds, even though, as Seth Davis pointed out in a story in Sports Illustrated, PGA policies meant Singh could be paired with only other top players.
Sörenstam picked the Colonial because the Fort Worth course was playing as a par-70 that measured 7,054 yards, 496 yards longer than the longest LPGA course, but more of a test of accuracy and shotmaking than strength. Sörenstam missed the cut with rounds of 71 and 74, but it wasn’t length off the tee that cost her, Michael Bamberger wrote after the tournament. Sörenstam averaged 268 yards with her driver over her two rounds. The field averaged 279. Sörenstam’s undoing was her chipping and putting, which Bamberger described as “below average for a world-class woman player and poor by the standards of the PGA Tour,” explaining that the short game perhaps counterintuitively relies on strength.
Though she didn’t make the weekend, Sörenstam’s participation in the tournament was hailed as a success and an inspiration. In the years since, Michelle Wie and Brittany Lincicome have also played in PGA Tour events.
