“Nikola Jokic was absolutely MONSTER” – Skip Bayless SHOCKED by Nuggets steal Game 1 win vs Thunder

“Nikola Jokic was absolutely MONSTER” – Skip Bayless SHOCKED by Nuggets steal Game 1 win vs Thunder

Ah, [Music] I ah I am devastated. I am [Music] destroyed. I am dumbfounded. [Music] I can’t fathom what I just watched. I think it happened, but I’m not sure. To the team I picked before the year started to win the West. the team from my hometown of Oklahoma City, a team I have loved for two [Music] years, a team nobody else loves outside of Oklahoma City. I’ve talked all year about [Music] how Draymond Green, Paul Pierce on my show, Skip 101 said nobody’s afraid of the Thunder. Nobody. They won the West by 16 games. And nobody’s afraid of the Thunder. They set every team record you can set. And nobody’s afraid of the Thunder. They swept Memphis in the first round. And nobody’s afraid of the Thunder. I think most people thought the Clippers would be a better test for the Thunder than the Nuggets and Aaron Gordon put back dunk tore the hearts right out of the Clippers who lost of course game seven by 70 points at Denver. And I dreaded a little bit that the MVP of the league in my opinion, even though he got outplayed tonight by the guy who will probably win it, but the MVP [Music] SGA played only four games in 27 days. I’ve never heard of anything like that. And I was a little concerned. Does too much rest turn to like snow belt rust where you just can’t shake it off even in May. The offense didn’t click all night long. You can’t miss eight free throws. you you you can’t allow 21 offensive rebounds. But yet and still yet and still, the team nobody’s afraid of had a 14-point lead in the second [Music] quarter and had a 13-point lead with 6 minutes and 28 seconds left. up 13 with 628 in game one at home against a team that like a day and a half ago was battling through a game seven. It was kind of a it was a cakewalk, but still usually that team’s in some trouble in game one on the road against the higher seed. And much of the night all the way down to that 628 mark, I’m thinking they’ll just wear down and out. My team is so deep. It it is such a force. It can just run people off the floor out of the gym. It won during the rec regular season by a record point differential. But I said on my show this morning, you know, they’re nine and a half point favorites. The team nobody’s afraid of. Nine and a half point favorite in game one. And I’m thinking that’s just too many points against Joker and Jamal. They’re they’re just too good. They’re too experienced. They’ve been there and done that. As Jamal just said on TNT, we’ve been doing this for years. Yeah. They’ve been doing exactly that. So, my still young coach, Mark Dagnel, he’s smart, he’s sharp, but I think he outcuted himself down the stretch because twice with a three-point lead at 18 seconds and 10 seconds. He called for a quick I don’t know if he wanted it that quick, but you got to let some time slip off the clock. Let it let it take a little bit and you’re going to foul them and put them on the free throw line. If they make them, very little time went off the clock and all of a sudden three goes down to one and three goes down to one. It happened twice. You’re out cuting yourself. You’re trying to show you’re the smartest coach in the building when in fact you’re up against an even younger coach, young Adelman, son of that guy whose games I covered for years. And everything seems different in Denver now. They got rid of Michael Malone and it seemed to clear the air. They got a fresh start. They got a new conviction, a new mindset. yet. And still, if you’re up 13 with 628 left and you’ve got SGA, you just have to close the deal. Alex Caruso was sensational tonight with his 20 points. He was all over the floor. He’s like a better Westbrook right now to me. Not not career, but right now better than Westbrook. I’ll take his fire starting, his difference making on both ends of the floor. He made five threes. I don’t know how you could ask much more of him except to let him have the ball a little more down the stretch. Maybe he is the closer like I thought Austin Reeves had been the closer for the Lakers. My god, I just looked up at the time and it was 666. I guess that sort of sums up my night. I ridiculed my friends Stephen A. Smith and Spike Lee on my show today. Ridiculed them for loving the Knicks. said it’s much more fun to be a Cowboy fan than than a Nick fan. And I just tore them all apart and said, “You’re going to get boat raced by Boston.” I said, “It’s a nine-point spread. You’ll lose by 19.” And they were down 20 or the Knicks in what, the second quarter. Boston just look like defending chumps tonight. Defending chumps. I don’t know about Jason Tatum. I’ve just never been sold. And he and Jaylen Brown, he’s got a significant knee injury, no lift. They go what, four of 25 from three and they blow it. And my team is up 13 with 628 left against some wy veterans. Joker’s unbelievable. He goes 4222 and six. couldn’t deal with him down the stretch. He made a three with a minute something left. 107 cut it to one. It was just like the shot of the night shot me right in the heart. That’s when I knew this is not good. We haven’t been there. We haven’t done that. I just watched Jamal say, “We’ve been doing that for years.” Exactly that. Aaron Gordon did that to the Clippers. [Music] at the Clippers and then he did that to us. He didn’t even need to shoot a three. I I just knew it. My daughter Hazel, she’s asleep down at my feet right now. I just told her I said, “This is not good. We’re going to lose this game somehow someway. We’re going to lose it.” My man Ched Hongren, no, he hadn’t been there and done a whole lot of that. He missed a three from the corner. That was a turning point. And then with those cutesy quick fouls, all of a sudden now Chad’s going to have to make free throws. And he’d made his first two. He’s he’s shot them very well all year. Oklahoma City led the league in free throw shooting this year. And yeah, I know what you’re yelling back at me right now during the regular season. Now, nobody’s afraid of the Young Thunder. They’re like a college rah team that will fold quickly in the playoffs. I’m sure that’s what everybody outside of Oklahoma City thinks. And now you got me. Now Denver’s on its way. Chad had two free throws to put it back up three. [Music] He usually takes his time and really concentrates, smooth strokes it. And these were jabby, sort of pushes, no arc. You You got me. He gagged. He gagged. Chad Homegrren gagged. Neither one of them came very [Music] close. And with no timeouts, Christian Brown rebound, kicks it to Russell Westbrook. back in his old stomping grounds where it all started in OKC and he’s drilling up the floor and I’m thinking please shoot it because he’ll miss it. He’s he’s a horrendous shooter as he showed you with a couple of his west bricks tonight. I’m thinking just pull up and shoot it, please. Please shoot it or try some nutty drive and dish and throw it to Caruso. You know, I I needed Russ to go clown music. I I needed him. And he dribbled right into the middle of the floor and saw Aaron Gordon on the wing and kicked it to him. And Aaron Gordon’s not the greatest three-point shooter. And it wasn’t really a three-point shot play. As I Eagle said on the telecast, they’re down only one. Boom. And Aaron Gordon did it to us just the way he did it to the Clippers in a very different way, but same impact, same shock value, same shell shock for me. I I still can’t even believe it happened. This is my hometown team. I put it all all my emotional eggs in their basket. I grew up there. 43rd [Music] Street, Mayfair Grade School, Taff Junior High School, Northwest Classen High School before I went away to Vanderbilt. Still have many, many friends there. Stayed close to many of my grade school friends, my junior high friends, and we’re all devastated. It’s not the end of the world, but I will admit to you, you can start to see it from here because Denver is tough. Denver is different now with the new coach. They think they got something rolling and they’re going to be a problem. Obviously, we have to win game two. We will win game two. And then it starts. Then you see what you’re made of. This team has been hellacious, great on the road all year long. We’re going to have to go up there and not just steal a game, we’re just going to have to take a game back from them. So, what we have to do because we still have home court in the bitter end of this is we have to win the next two games. We just have to win the next two and we are highly capable. Shake off the rust. Shake off the jitters. Shake off, the insecurity, and do what you’ve been doing all year to everybody you played. We beat Boston twice handily. We crushed Denver, but you could just see Joker’s body language. He thinks they can beat us. I don’t think they’re afraid of us. So, it’s time to make them afraid. The NBA is going to gloat tomorrow about there go the thunder. We told you so. We told you so. We told me so. Yeah. Everybody’s going to say we told you so. Now it’s time for us to show you. So, [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] Edit video. Fore speech. [Music] Yeah, I’m from weird. [Music] What? What? [Music] [Applause] Help me. [Applause] Good. Okay. [Music] Don’t leave us alone. I hate that. I hate that. That was good. [Music] [Applause] Go on. I’m going out Oh man.

“Nikola Jokic was absolutely MONSTER” – Skip Bayless SHOCKED by Nuggets steal Game 1 win vs Thunder
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