LeBron pays respect after sweep, says Nuggets the best team he faced as a Laker with AD

Humble in times of victory, gracious in moments of defeat.

LeBron James performed that as he was ousted by the Denver Nuggets in Game 4 of the Western Conference Finals on Monday night.

James, who dropped a game-high 40 points, got all praise and acknowledgement to the terrific Nuggets team and went on to describe them as the best squad he faced with Anthony Davis in their current four-year run in the Los Angeles Lakers.

“I think me and AD, we’re just talking in the locker room a little bit. I think we came to the consensus that this [Nuggets], if not one of the best, is the best team that we’ve played. We’ve been together for four years,” James told reporters following L.A.’s 113-111 elimination loss.

“They’re just well orchestrated, well put together. They have scoring, they have playmaking, they have smarts, they have length, they have depth.”

The 2020 Miami Heat, 2021 Phoenix Suns and this year’s Golden State Warriors might offer such respective rebuttal, but the current Nuggets team ain’t a joke as they handed James the third postseason series sweep in his 20-year illustrious career.  The Western Conference top-seed of the regular season, they dismantled the Minnesota Timberwolves in five first-round matches and pulverized the Phoenix Suns in the West Semis for their second WCF appearance in four years.

With both Jamal Murray and Michael Porter Jr. finally healthy, added by their massive role players contributing bannered by Aaron Gordon, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Bruce Brown and Jeff Green, Denver appears to be destined for that ultimate success this year with their talent, deep roster and offensive excellence fueled by two-time MVP Nikola Jokic.

“One thing about their team and when you have a guy like Joker who, as big as he is but also a cerebral he is, you can’t really make many mistakes versus the guy like that,” James added.

After 47 years of wait – including four different seasons of coming up short against Los Angeles in the Conference Finals – Denver finally drew that revenge to earn that elusive ticket for their first NBA Finals in team history, and they fulfilled it with such style and team work.