The Sixers hosted the Denver Nuggets on Monday night and apart from the fact that these are two of the top teams in their respective conferences, the underlying narrative centered around the Top 2 MVP contenders so far this season in Joel Embiid and Nikola Jokic.
It was Jokic and Co. that came out on top in this one, logging a massive 114-110 statement win against the Sixers in their own home court. Embiid dropped a game-high 34 points all over Jokic and the Nuggets, but in the end, his heroics were all for nothing after the Sixers suffered their second loss in their last three games.
After the narrow defeat, Embiid spoke out about his matchup with Jokic. The Sixers big man was quick to play down the MVP showdown narrative as he turned his focus on two teams that went all out to secure a win:
“Not at all. A regular-season game,” Embiid said, via Ky Carlin of Sixers Wire. “It was Denver against the Sixers. We had a good start and then that beginning of the fourth and that end to the first half was terrible for us, but it wasn’t about me or anybody else. We did everything possible to try and get a win.”
As much as he'd like to play down the storyline, there's just no escaping the fact that Monday night was a matchup between arguably the two best big men in the game today. If you look at the numbers, you could say that Embiid won this battle with his 34 points (on 11-of-20 shooting), to go along with nine boards, four assists, a steal, and two blocks. The Sixers center also went a perfect 3-of-3 from distance.
Jokic, on the other hand, dropped an eye-popping 22-point, 13-rebound double-double, with eight dimes (including one of the candidates for assist of the season), two steals, and two blocks. Embiid may have outscored Jokic in this one, but in the end, what matters most is that it was the Nuggets who are coming home with the W.
Embiid then got brutally honest as he opened up about his individual matchup against The Joker. The Sixers superstar was quick to heap praise on the reigning league MVP. However, Embiid is also adamant about having Jokic's number:
“It’s always been unfortunate,” Embiid said. “Even this year, I was out because of COVID, and last year, it was the COVID situation and then my knee ended up whatever happened in Washington. Bad timing, but obviously, he’s a monster, he’s a great player. I love competition. I love playing against the best and I’m always happy that it’s another big man. What he’s able to do and he’s a monster. I love watching him, but it’s also easy to study him. He plays against other guys so I know his tendencies. I know what he wanted to do. Unfortunately, I was in foul trouble today. Not being able to be as aggressive as I wanted, but he’s a great player. I love his game. I love watching him and I’m even more proud that it’s a big man.”
Embiid loves playing mind games and it seems like this is exactly what he's trying to do here. He even pinned some of the blame on his foul trouble as he explained why he wasn't able to fully execute his game plan against Jokic on this particular occasion.
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Unfortunately, these two teams no longer face off this season. Monday night was our last chance to see these two MVP contenders go toe to toe this year. That is unless the Nuggets and the Sixers face off in the Finals this season. Honestly, though, that's quite improbable right now given the teams that both Denver and Philly will need to go through in their respective conferences to reach the Finals. I just don't see that happening.
Embiid ended his message by reiterating how much importance he places on the big picture. Individual accolades are nice an all, but for Embiid, it's all about winning:
“We lost. That’s what I care about. I care about the wins,” Embiid stated. “It’s up to you guys (the media) to have this conversation to decide who’s the best, who has the best game, and all that stuff. I really don’t care about that. I just wanna win. Obviously, we’re thinking about championships and at this point, we gotta be better. As far as individual awards, he’s the reigning MVP and he’s been a monster all season. You guys can also build a case for me, but that’s not my focus. I’m focused on how we can get better every single day and we got a lot to work on.”
I see no lies here. Embiid is absolutely right in saying that at the end of the day, what matters most is winning games. Nevertheless, the MVP award is a pretty big thing too, and I'm pretty sure Embiid has this running at the back of his mind — regardless of how much he wants to deny it.
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