Joel Embiid's subtle trash talk on Nikola Jokic backfired
Back in March, Embiid threw shade in his interview with The Athletic regarding the pressure that comes when winning MVP.
“Why is there pressure on me to do something when there are guys that have won two MVPs and haven’t done anything either?” Embiid said.
While most blame Doc Rivers' history of blowing leads or James Harden disappearing in games 5 to 7, Embiid had his struggles in the playoffs as well.
Embiid's scoring dropped by 9.4 points compared to the regular season, which is the largest drop-off from an MVP as per ESPN.
When his team needed him the most, Embiid shot 5/18 and immediately threw his teammates under the bus.
“I can’t win alone. Me and James [Harden], we just can’t win alone. That’s why basketball is played 5-on-5.”
At 29 years old, he's also the only MVP to never reach a conference finals.
Jokic, on the other hand, is having the greatest postseason of his career.
Jokic already passed Wilt for most postseason triple doubles for a center and is the only one to have 300+ points and 90+ assists through first 10 games of playoffs.