The Nuggets’ magical Bubble run has come to an end. It’s one thing to come back from 1-3 series deficits against the Jazz (A team whose second best player is Royce O’Neale, and whose third best player is Juwan Morgan) and the Clippers (no time for load management in the playoffs, but also no time for chemistry, apparently). It’s another thing entirely to come back against a team with LeBron James on it. There were some significant glimmers of hope in the fourth quarter of this one, so bright that they could’ve been called “flashes” or even “glows”, and then LeBron happened. And it was over. Buried under a torrent of LeJumpers lies the crushed remnants of the ‘Ggets season.
It was such an impressive display by LeBron that I’m not even going to use his well-earned nickname, “NoDefense SuckBalls”, at any point in this description. Even though Jerami Grant proved once again the validity of the nickname by scoring 20 points while LeBron sulked around and checked to see if his hairline had receded any more.
Grant, tied with Nikola Jokic, was the leading scorer for Denver in this one, which is good for Grant, but really not good at all for the team as a whole. Remember, Grant is just a guy. Not like anyone is under the impression that he’s anything more than that, but in big games like this, he shouldn’t have to be the one who steps up. At least, he shouldn’t have to be the ONLY one who steps up. He took the most shots out of anyone, he scored the most points out of anyone, if they managed to win, he’d be a hero.
He’s still a hero to me, for his efforts these last few games. Who knows? Maybe he’ll come back next year with a few more tools in his bag and we’ll see 18 ppg per game from him. 18 ppg and 2 rpg. Because I don’t think anything that he does will ever turn him into someone that can grab rebounds.