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Post by SamH on Jun 6, 2023 16:50:50 GMT
No, i assumed he was Serbian... can't think why!😎
Wiki: Jović was born in the Royal Infirmary in Leicester, Leicestershire, England due to his professional basketball player father Ilija playing there at the time.
He was born in 2003. Anyone remember Ilija? All i remember is that Riders were pretty terrible around that time!
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Post by milehigh on Jun 6, 2023 20:03:22 GMT
I read earlier in the season that Jokic and Jovic had met several times and often had dinner together when their teams played.
Jokic is a big star in Serbia and a hero in their basketball community.
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Post by SamH on Jun 8, 2023 8:49:22 GMT
Pretty comprehensive win for Denver in game 3, taking home court advantage right back. I'm going back to my original prediction of a tied series after 4 and Denver winning in 6, but I seem to be getting everything wrong in this one so probably a Denver win in game 4 now!
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Post by SamH on Jun 8, 2023 11:58:12 GMT
Just seen the stats - wow! Joker with a 30/20/10 triple double and Murray also adding a triple double. Outstanding stuff. You feeling confident yet, MH?
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Post by milehigh on Jun 8, 2023 17:11:03 GMT
I think Nuggets will win, hopefully in five, so they win it in front of their own fans in the Ball Arena.
As well as the great performances ny Jokic and Murray last night, rookie Christian Braun, had 15 points, plus rebounds and assists. He is the only rookie to have had significant minutes during the play offs and is a key part of Nuggetts 8 man rotation.
He will be a big star.
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Post by milehigh on Jun 10, 2023 3:16:25 GMT
Nuggets win game 4 comfortably, with all 8 players in the rotation making significant contributions. It wasn't a Jokic & Murray show tonight, with AG and Bruce Brown both having big games, and KCP & MPJ both having better games.
Game 5 on Monday night, could, give the Denver side the great experience of winning the title in front of their own fans.
Now time to sleep!
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Post by SamH on Jun 10, 2023 17:52:18 GMT
Yep so I should have stuck with my 5 game prediction! Miami seems to have run out of steam. I don't think Denver is that much better than Boston or Milwaukee, but the Heat are clearly overmatched here. It's a shame because 888 are giving me a free £10 bet for each game upon placing a £10 bet. Which im laying off at a betting exchange. So potentially £70 in free bets, which laying off would result in about £55 guaranteed profit. Looks like I'll have to settle for £50 in free bets, for about £38!
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Post by spacejammer on Jun 10, 2023 18:28:16 GMT
Yep so I should have stuck with my 5 game prediction! Miami seems to have run out of steam. I don't think Denver is that much better than Boston or Milwaukee, but the Heat are clearly overmatched here. It's a shame because 888 are giving me a free £10 bet for each game upon placing a £10 bet. Which im laying off at a betting exchange. So potentially £70 in free bets, which laying off would result in about £55 guaranteed profit. Looks like I'll have to settle for £50 in free bets, for about £38! Yeah from what I have seen so far I think Denver will win the next game as well and put Miami away. I think in game 2 Denver just got off to a poor start and if their had been a 5th Quarter or Overtime Miami would have lost as it looked like after an explosive start they were just hanging on after that. Whereas in the other games I felt Denver have won but mostly had control and didn't look particularly threatened. I think Jokic looks like a nightmare to guard and it felt similar to some BBL games this season watching Miami try to guard him as he looked unstoppable because of his size. But then when he had to sit out for over 5 minutes on the 4th Quarter of the most recent game due to foul trouble. I also felt the rest of the Nuggets team really stepped up. At one point I questioned whether the coach even put Jokic back in the game at that point as i thought Denver were still doing fine without him and the lead was only cut by 1 point. But with it being a final and a chance to go 3-1 up I suppose he also didn't want to risk not having his general on the floor and giving Miami a chance to tie the series. As for Miami I think what they have done is incredible especially coming from the 8th seed position and with number of undrafted players. However as the commentators said only Lebrons Cleveland Cavilers in 2016 have ever came back from being 3-1 down. However as someone who loves a good underdog success story I do hope I'm wrong. |
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Post by SamH on Jun 11, 2023 15:34:33 GMT
Why oh why would they schedule game 5 for a Monday night instead of Sunday? It should be on tonight!
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Post by milehigh on Jun 11, 2023 18:28:38 GMT
All to do with TV schedules and the CBA for travel and practice days between games.
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Post by SamH on Jun 11, 2023 20:28:21 GMT
They've definitely extended it compared to a few years ago when most games were every other day. Now its 3 days between games apart from 3 and 4. But on the plus side we lost the 2-3-2 venue format now.
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Post by massiveridersfan on Jun 13, 2023 7:14:00 GMT
Congratulations to Nuggets. Worthy winners. Jokic is an amazing player and so impressively modest. No bragging or arrogance whatsoever. To lead on points, assists and rebounds in these playoffs is simply staggering. Phenomenal. Lowry did his best but Butler wasn't at his usual standard.
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Post by SamH on Jun 13, 2023 8:46:26 GMT
Yes, clearly the best team in the finals and yet the Heat were able to beat the Bucks and Celtics who were the other 2 main contenders this year. Playoff Butler didn't show up really, but I think a lot of that was to do with how Denver played him.
Nice to see the Nuggets get their first championship after all these years. When I started watching the NBA in the 90s they were abysmal - this has been a long time coming!
You celebrating, MH?!
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Post by tallerman on Jun 13, 2023 9:13:36 GMT
What was it 8th seed, 4th seed, 7th seed then 8th seed.
Western conference finals against a play in team
Finals against a play in team
Nuggets are worthy winners and were brilliant but I can’t help but think when this year is looked back on, nuggets will be seen as having won in the easiest route to a championship.
Nice to see Aaron Gordon win after being robbed twice in the dunk contest though!
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Post by SamH on Jun 13, 2023 10:38:19 GMT
It was a fairly easy route but they beat a Suns team sporting KD and Booker (Chris Paul is always hurt in the playoffs so thats not really a factor as you don't expect him to be available anyway!) I don't think that team was reflective of a 4 seed, the argument would be that they only played a handful of games together after acquiring Durant. Be interesting to see how good Phoenix is next season.
The West was unusually average this year and Denver took advantage. Would they have beaten Boston or Milwaukee? We'll never know but they handled the team that did beat them pretty handedly.
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Post by SamH on Jun 13, 2023 11:31:29 GMT
So the next question is, with this success, this performance and the finals MVP award - how close is Jokic now to say, Tim Duncan, on the greats list? I always think those two are similar in their personality, their approach to the game and all around ability and fundamentals. Duncan obviously won 5 titles and 3 finals MVPs so you'd still have him ahead, but Jokic must be moving up the all time big man list quite a bit now?
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Post by hayesboy on Jun 13, 2023 16:00:38 GMT
TD is a an bona fide superstar and a legend. If you are talking about "all around ability" though for me Jokic is already ahead of him. Better ball handler, better passer, better shooter from range and in fact I would say a better all around offensive player. I think Duncan has the edge (considerably so) on the defensive side of things but rebounding wise there is nothing between them. With the offensive part of the game always given more weight I think that gives the edge to The Joker.
Whether he has the success of TD, the longevity of TD remains to be seen. Duncan is one of my absolute favourite players of all time. Huge fan but I would say Jokic is my current favourite player to watch along with Steph Curry.
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Post by SamH on Jun 13, 2023 23:01:23 GMT
www.espn.com/video/clip?id=37846612Not quite the same but in this video they debate Jokic or Shaq, another interesting comparison. Joker clearly way more skilled all round than Shaq, it's not even close. But Shaq being as physically dominant as he was managed to win him 3 final MVPs, 4 rings and top 10 on the all time scoring list. I often wonder what he could have averaged if he could have made 75% from the foul line - he wouldn't have been fouled as often but that would have meant more scoring at the basket, so he could easily have averaged 5-10 more points a game if he could shoot freebies. Jokic of course can shoot from anywhere, but that's the modern game now. 20 years ago when Duncan and Shaq were in their prime, big men weren't shooting from range. I actually think in this day and age, if you were starting a team and had to pick a big man, Jokic would be the guy. But if you were starting a team 20, 30 years ago, Duncan or Shaq would be the guy because of how the game is played changing in that time.
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