Sixers

Joel Embiid Drops 41 on Nuggets, Shows Respect for “Best in the League” Nikola Jokic

By Kevin Kinkead

Published: Jan 17th, 2024 · 9:40 AM EST

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Joel Embiid with 41 points, seven rebounds, 10 assists, and some crotch chops in a 126-121 home win against the Nuggets:

Joel Embiid is such a showman and I love it pic.twitter.com/6rnuCsv7dI

— Kevin O’Connor (@KevinOConnorNBA) January 17, 2024

The Sixers coughed up a third quarter lead, only for Embiid to re-enter with 7:28 in the fourth and hit his first four shots to push the lead to 10. That was enough of a cushion that the sloppy finish ultimately didn’t matter.

Afterward, Embiid said he didn’t care about “best” NBA player battles with Nikola Jokic.

“I know I want to be the best, and I’m going to do whatever it takes to be the best,” Embiid said. “But sometimes you got to be able to win as a team. You got to do the best job possible to make sure that you put yourself and the team in the best position possible to win. And it seems like if you want to be the best, you got to win. No matter what’s around, and no matter who’s around, you got to find a way to win so that’s my goal. It doesn’t matter – I mean I’ve said it at the beginning of the season. Y’all keep talking about Boston, Milwaukee, that’s fine. They might be better than us, they might be more talented than us, but I still believe we’ve got a chance so we just need a little bit of luck. Got to stay healthy and be on our best but like I always say, we got to be perfect. We got to be in sync; together. We got to play with each other and it’s been working  pretty well this year.”

NBA fans have argued about the Embiid/Jokic thing for years now, but whenever you ask either guy about it, they downplay the topic and speak highly of one another.

“(On) Twitter, you have a war going on between Philly fans and Denver fans,” said Embiid. “And it’s funny because, both of us, we are just like, ‘Okay, we just want to play basketball and win some games.’ He deserves it, until you knock him down. That’s the best in the league. He’s the Finals MVP, until someone else takes that away, then you can claim that. But then again, I also believe in myself. I keep it at that. I just got to get there.”

“I just told him he’s the best player in the league.”

Embiid with high praise for the Joker 🤝 pic.twitter.com/DCSOvuqbwU

— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) January 17, 2024

There were contributions all around on Tuesday night. Nic Batum had a huge block at the end of the game. Tobias Harris chipped in 24 points on 80% shooting and is on a really nice run of form. Tyrese Maxey got his 20+ and the Sixers held up well physically on the second night of a home back-to-back. Harris helped stabilize things in those early fourth quarter minutes, and that staggered unit held its ground until Joel re-entered the game and proceeded to do his thing.

What’s interesting to me is that the Sixers have been a nice surprise this year, and are overachieving relative to what we thought they might be. However, that puts them in the exact same spot they’ve occupied for a few seasons now, which is 3rd in the east behind Milwaukee and Boston, with the same questions of managing Embiid for the postseason. Plus, with the trade deadline approaching, and a big run of road games on the horizon, it’s going to be fascinating to see 1) how they perform over this stretch and 2) what Daryl Morey decides to do with Tobias Harris and others. It’s difficult to get a read on the organization’s macro-level view as we head into the second half of January, but we’re enjoying the games and enjoying this dominant Embiid run. As we just saw with the Eagles, it could fall apart at any moment.