James vs Jokic… NBA Western Conference Finals Coming Soon

In the 2022-2023 season, the NBA Western Conference No. 1 seed, the Denburn Nuggets, is aiming to advance to the NBA championship game against the LA Lakers.

Denver and Lakers will have Game 1 of the NBA Conference Finals on the 17th. The winning team in this playoff, which is played in a best-of-seven game, advances to the NBA championship game. The two teams also clashed in the 2020 season. At that time, the Lakers defeated Denver with 4 wins and 1 loss to advance to the championship game, and defeated the Miami Heat in the last game to ascend to the throne.

Both Denver and Lakers are led by Nikola Jokic and LeBron James. It is a composition that has not changed from 2020. However, James struggled with an injury, but Jokic became a player representing the league. Jokic, who won the NBA Most Valuable Player (MVP) for two years in a row, showed no shortage of activity this season. However, he had no choice but to give up the MVP spot to Joel Embiid, unfortunately, according to the conservative voting tendency in honoring one player for three consecutive years.

Jokic is determined to shake off the regret of missing the MVP by recording an average triple-double in the playoffs. Jokic is dazzling with 34.5 points, 13.2 rebounds and 10.3 assists per game. The Lakers must stop this kind of Yokichi. It is no exaggeration to say that the success or failure of Anthony Davis depended on how much he tied Jokic.

James is also dreaming of a 5th champion with his age-forgotten performance. James is averaging 23.4 points, 10 rebounds and 5.3 assists in the playoffs. He has fond memories of winning in the 2020 conference finals, but James has shown caution. “Denver is stronger now than Denver three years ago,” said James. “Denver, which has grown every season, is a strong team that has ranked first in the West.” “The West final will be a big challenge for us as well,” he said, adding, “I look forward to a matchup with Denver.”

Yokichi is burdened by the changed Lakers. In particular, he was worried that the Lakers had become a completely different team during the season as they let go of five players, including Russell Westbrook, and recruited six players, including Rui Hachimura and D’Angelo Russell. Yokichi said, “After the trade deadline, the Lakers performed great and showed excellent performance in the playoffs,” but said about the loss three years ago, “I don’t remember anything.”

Reporter Jeong Pil-jae [email protected]

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