In LeBron James‘ 21st NBA season, the elimination against the Denver Nuggets is James’ just second first-round exit. The Lakers were in the conference finals last year. However, the performances weren’t like we were accustomed to previously. This year too, the Lakers have struggled thanks to Nikola Jokic. The Joker scored 25 Points, 20 Rebounds, and 9 Assists in game 5 and was the menace that the Lakers couldn’t find the answer to.
Interestingly every game of the series the Lakers were leading at the halfway mark. Yet the Nuggets won the game 5 108-106 and the series 4-1. Throughout the series, fans have been demanding for Superman to return. Not Shaquille O’Neal, but Dwight Howard. And after losing in the first round their beliefs seem to have become stronger.
Since the start of the series, Howard has been posting on his social media how he could have stopped the Joker. A few hours ago, Howard uploaded a carousel of posts on his Instagram and wrote, “Why they split that team up.” His last photo of the carousel was from his X account where he wrote, “They should’ve never split that team up … we would’ve had 3 in a row 💍 like my son would say “ On Skibidi”! 😂 .
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Dejected fans of the Laker fanbase seem to agree with Howards’ assessment. With a lot of them being in favor of the former center’s return.
Lakers fans have had enough of the mediocrity
The Lakers have had a quiet decade. After appearing in the championship finals 3 times from 2008 and winning 2 of them, they haven’t been able to produce the same performance. Their last appearance was in 2020, where they were the eventual champions.
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So one fan was curious to know why the winning formula was changed after just one year. “Dwight is right. Still to this day we still don’t know why that team split up so fast after winning the champ…that team was defensively solid.“
Winning the championship means building a near-perfect team and a fan truly believed in the potential of the Lakers. “We had literally the perfect team that couldve easily got us to the finals 2-3 more times. They got greedy”
During his final season with the Lakers in 2021–2022, Howard recorded averages of 6.2 points, 5.9 rebounds, and 0.6 blocks per match. With them, he also took home a championship in 2020 during the COVID season. Remembering his performance one fan wanted D12 back ASAP with the Lakers. “Man… no one out here listening. Sign D12 ASAP”
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Poor results mean criticism of the highest order. Currently on the firing line is the coach Darvin Ham. According to multiple reports, his coaching is uninspiring and so fans are desperately looking for a change. And one fan believes that reuniting the winning coach with the Lakers will be the solution. “Bring back Dwight and coach Vogel”
The Superman on his Instagram uploaded a video and explained how he managed to somewhat nullify the Joker’s terror. Jokic only averaged 21.8 points, 7.2 rebounds, and 5.0 assists against Howard in the 2020 Western Conference match where Howard was marking the Nuggets Center. “You remain to this day the only man to clamp JOKIC. And you weren’t even in your prime. Respect Dwight. Kobe proud of you @dwighthoward”, confessed one fan.