George Karl at his 2022 induction into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. Sep 10, 2022; Springfield, MA, USA; George Karl gives his speech during her induction to the 2022 Basketball Hall of Fame at Symphony Hall. Mandatory Credit: Wendell Cruz-USA TODAY Sports

The Miami Heat evening the NBA Finals with a 111-108 road win over the Denver Nuggets in Game 2 Sunday produced plenty of takes. One of those came from Fox Sports’ Skip Bayless, who decided to blast Nuggets’ star and two-time MVP Nikola Jokić with a claim he was “greasing” in shots:

Jokić put up a team-high 41 points Sunday on 16-of-28 shooting, also adding 11 rebounds and four assists. The Nuggets’ second-highest scorer was Jamal Murray, who had 18 points on seven-of-15 shooting. And while Jokić’s play Sunday wasn’t perfect (the Nuggets were -11 with him on the floor, the third-worst number on the team), he was still a key figure for Denver, and still had a strong shooting night. Thus, many objected to Bayless’ remarks here. And that list included Hall of Fame coach George Karl, who coached the Nuggets from 2005-2013:

ESPN’s Jay Williams also weighed in with a questioning of Bayless’ “greasing” term (perhaps it’s an Albany expression?):

https://twitter.com/RealJayWilliams/status/1665701741843578881

And there were lots of other criticisms for Bayless’ take here as well. Some brought up his less-than-stellar playing career:

https://twitter.com/BigEasyBets/status/1665696236500811780

Others wondered if Bayless is in the group of national media that’s been criticized for not watching the Nuggets regularly:

And still others brought up Bayless’ drama with Undisputed co-host Shannon Sharpe, who looks set to leave that show (and Fox altogether) following the Finals. And that’s led to reporting and commentary on the challenges of working with Bayless and the “final say” he has on Sharpe’s replacement. It’s also led to a lot of people mocking Bayless:

This is only one of the many controversies Bayless has stirred up on Twitter over the years. But it’s interesting to see Karl and Williams amongst the people roasting him here, and to see them doing so in such strong terms.

[George Karl on Twitter; photo of Karl at his 2022 induction into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame from Wendell Cruz/USA Today Sports]

About Andrew Bucholtz

Andrew Bucholtz has been covering sports media for Awful Announcing since 2012. He is also a staff writer for The Comeback. His previous work includes time at Yahoo! Sports Canada and Black Press.