Kevin Durant's podcast co-host cracks down on Lakers after "fat" Nikola Jokic beats Lakers in transition
Eddie "Bansky" Gonzales, co-host of The ETCs podcast with Kevin Durant, threw shade at the LA Lakers' effort on Saturday, noting that despite being labeled as fat and unathletic, Nikola Jokic was beating LeBron James and Anthony Davis in sprinting on the court.
Gonzales took to X (formerly Twitter) to note how Nikola Jokic was outpacing the Lakers’ star duo in Game 4.
“‘Fat’ Jokic beat AD (and all of the Lakers) down the court after a made basket. This the kinda stuff that matters man,” he said.
The specific play Gonzales was referring to is unclear, but Nikola Jokic had multiple impressive transition plays in Game 3, including a tap assist to Michael Porter Jr.
“Yeah Jokic is in phenomenal shape. Very athletic. Looks can be deceiving,” Gonzales added.
The Lakers picked up the Game 4 victory on Saturday, 119-108, ending an 11-game losing streak to the Nuggets and averting a sweep as they forced a Game 5.
Maintaining control of the game's tempo, the Lakers prevented the Nuggets from erasing another double-digit lead.
LeBron James led the team with 30 points, shooting 14-for-23 from the field, while Anthony Davis contributed a dominant double-double with 25 points and 23 rebounds, along with six assists and a block in 41 minutes of play.
Jokic had a 33-point outing with 14 rebounds and 14 assists, while Porter finished with 27 points and 11 rebounds.
Nikola Jokic uses horse-racing metaphor to recap Nuggets vs Lakers
After the Nuggets' Game 4 loss on Saturday, Nikola Jokic, a known fan of horse racing, used a horse-related pun to recap the game. Jokic owns several racehorses and participates in horse-racing events during the offseason.
"Of course we want to win. But I learned in horse racing it's not how you start, it's how you finish,” Jokic said.
“We didn't finish today really well, hopefully we can do a better job."
After winning last year's championship, Jokic even expressed that the thing he's most excited to do is to return to Serbia for horse racing.
Jokic, the reigning Finals MVP, is the frontrunner for this year's MVP award after averaging 26.4 points, 12.4 rebounds, 9.0 assists and 1.4 steals per game while shooting 58.3% from the field and 35.9% from 3-point range during the regular season for the Nuggets.
In four games in the 2024 playoffs so far, his numbers have surged to 29.0 points, 15.3 rebounds and 10.0 assists per game.
Nikola Jokic and the Nuggets aim to finish the series in Game 5 on Monday in Denver at 10 p.m. ET.