Nikola Jokic picked a terrible time to put up a clunker. To be fair, this was his first game back for the Denver Nuggets following a three-game injury layoff, but this still isn't enough for fans to overlook the fact that he played terribly in a shocking loss to a 20-60 Houston Rockets side in a 124-103 blowout. To make matters worse for Jokic and his bid to win his third straight MVP title, Philadelphia 76er superstar Joel Embiid, his primary rival for this year's Most Valuable Player crown, just dropped a 50-piece all over the Boston Celtics in a marquee matchup in the Eastern Conference.
Unsurprisingly, Jokic's forgettable evening drew the ire of more than a few fans on the mean streets of Twitter. A lot of folks believe that the events from Tuesday night only solidifies Embiid's claim for the MVP title:
https://twitter.com/big_business_/status/1643439388469219331
https://twitter.com/wstgoat7/status/1643440422574866433
There's definitely much more where that came from, but you get the gist. Simply put, Nikola Jokic just took a massive hit in his bid for another MVP trophy in his cabinet. This is after he finished with 14 points, 10 rebounds, four assists, and a whopping eight turnovers in a totally unexpected loss against literally the worst team in the West.
Joel Embiid, on the other hand, may have just gotten one hand on the MVP trophy after tonight's epic performance. The Sixers superstar dropped a monster 52-point, 13-rebound double-double all over Jayson Tatum and the Celtics, to go along with six assists and two blocks. More importantly, Philly emerged with a hard-fought 103-101 victory against one of the best teams in the NBA today.
As one of the above tweets said, there are indeed levels to this.