NBA Playoffs: Winners and losers of the Conference Finals

Los Angeles Lakers LeBron James (Photo by Harry How/Getty Images)
Los Angeles Lakers LeBron James (Photo by Harry How/Getty Images)
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Los Angeles Lakers
Los Angeles Lakers LeBron James (Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images)

Winner: People who argue LeBron is the GOAT

LeBron James will now be playing in his 10th NBA Finals in 17 years of being in the NBA. He also convincingly beat the other Conference Finalist, putting up 38 points, 10 assists, and 16 rebounds and looking dominant the whole way through.

Jerami Grant is a winner according to this article but even an athletic defender like he was helpless as LeBron bullied his way through Denver’s defense.

Making it even cooler was the fact that a day earlier, The Ringer’s Dan Devine wrote an article titled ‘Father Time Is Undefeated, but He’s Yet to Beat LeBron’. It was very pro-LeBron but he did mention that the King had slowed down in recent years.

"“It feels weird to watch LeBron struggle to roast the kind of guys we’re accustomed to seeing him do just that. It feels weird to watch him in a playoff series… and to feel like for the first time ever like LeBron might not always be his team’s best option when it’s time to get a bucket,” he writes."

This did not age well.

With just over four minutes remaining in the fourth quarter, Jokic hits the free throw off an and-one to bring Denver within four points, 99-103. From here, LeBron finds Danny Green for a 3-pointer, makes three consecutive 2-point jump shots before sealing the deal with an awkward three-pointer, Denver calls a timeout with 1:57 on the clock, down 12, 103-115.

LeBron simultaneously buried the Nuggets, picked up his crown, and stuck a finger at anyone who says he still can’t do it at the ripe old age of 35-years-old.

If he keeps it going through to the NBA Finals, there’s little to say he isn’t the greatest to ever do it.