PHILADELPHIA — The centers at the center of the NBA’s fiercest ongoing debate shared an embrace Tuesday that indicated they don’t share even an ounce of the animosity that exists between their fans.
Even if a key difference between them is how they regard the fan vitriol: apathy vs. chip on the shoulder.
After Joel Embiid dropped 41 points in a 126-121 Sixers win over the Nuggets, he revealed in a TNT interview what he told Nikola Jokic during that embrace: that Jokic is the best player in the league.
“We were just talking. He came, and we just hugged it out,” Embiid elaborated afterward. “It’s funny because (on) Twitter, they have a war going on between Philly fans and Denver fans. And it’s funny because both of us are just like, ‘Who cares?’ We just want to play basketball and win some games. But he deserves (the title of best in the NBA). Until you knock him down, that’s the best in the league, and he’s the Finals MVP. So until someone else takes that away, then you can claim that.
“But then again,” Embiid continued, smiling, “I also believe in myself. … I’ve just gotta get there.”
The well-documented argument against the league’s reigning MVP is his playoff track record, which Embiid seemed to be acknowledging in his postgame comments. Denver’s “Twitter war” rebuttal to the latest Jokic loss in Philly writes itself: Embiid has still never won a second-round series, while Jokic is fresh off a 16-4 playoff run to the championship.
But the truest contrast between the future Hall of Fame big men — basketball skillsets, career résumés or otherwise — might be how plugged in they are to the online fodder Embiid addressed. When Jokic was asked Tuesday if he believes the matchup is good for the league from a fan and marketing perspective, he shrugged his shoulders: “I really don’t know the answer, my friend. I mean, probably it is. Maybe it is. It was national TV, so hopefully it is.”
Jokic finished the loss with 25 points, 19 rebounds, three assists and four turnovers as Philadelphia switched up defensive strategies throughout the night. A cast of smaller players including Tobias Harris and Patrick Beverley guarded him the first three quarters, even picking him up full-court when he wore his point center hat. Jokic took advantage at the rim by snatching a career-high 11 offensive rebounds by the end of the third. Then Embiid matched up against him more traditionally in the fourth, rather than guarding Aaron Gordon and roaming in help.
It took away the source of Denver’s survival: Its second-chance points. Jokic didn’t add any more offensive boards the last 12 minutes, and the 76ers went on a bruising 18-2 run.
“We did the opposite that we did last year,” Embiid said. “Last year we started with me on (Jokic), and then we switched it (to smalls, such as P.J. Tucker). … You’ve just gotta mix it up. That’s the (case) for any great players. If you give them the same look over and over and over, they’re gonna figure it out.”
At the other end, Gordon was Embiid’s primary defensive matchup instead of Jokic. In spite of the final box score, Gordon and the Nuggets did a formidable job defending him in the third quarter, opening the door for a 12-0 Denver stretch.
Embiid shrugged that off like Jokic answering a question about Twitter. It was Embiid’s own fault for playing in isolation too much, he said.
He was inevitable in the fourth, scoring 10 consecutive points during the game-clinching run.
“The guy is amazing,” Jokic said. “I think there is nobody who can stop him one-on-one.”
So, in an effort to remedy that, he and his teammates also double-teamed Embiid a fair amount. The result was similar to what most teams see when they commit to doubling Jokic: a 10-assist performance through three quarters for Embiid, and a 41.4% team output beyond the arc.
Tyrese Maxey, finally unleashed as Philadelphia’s alpha guard with James Harden traded to the Clippers, accounted for four of those 3-pointers. He and Embiid have developed a superb two-man game with increased reps this season — 76ers coach Nick Nurse called Maxey vs. Jamal Murray the undercard matchup to Jokic/Embiid — and the Nuggets left Maxey open too often in mostly futile attempts to contain the main card.
“Like our two-man game, you have a great center and a very good guard,” Nuggets coach Michael Malone said. “And Joel can pick-and-pop for three. He can catch the ball in the pocket and finish. Maxey can shoot the three off the pick-and-roll. He can turn the corner and get into the paint. And then around that, they have quality shooting.”
Malone and Nurse have 11 days to carefully consider their next moves in a chess match that tends to be treated by the NBA community as a biannual referendum on the MVP race. More gimmick coverages? Back to straight-up mano-a-mano? Or a combination? Jokic is now 2-6 against Embiid in his career. Looming over that record, however, is that Embiid hasn’t played in Denver since 2019.
“He’s a really good player. He’s historic by now,” Jokic said. “He’s averaging 30-something points every night. And that’s extremely hard to do, especially every night. But I’m not playing against him. I’m playing against Philadelphia.”
“It wasn’t about the matchup between the bigs,” Embiid agreed, saying he approached Tuesday’s game as a team-wide litmus test to examine how the 76ers stack up with the defending champions.
Yet still, his attention to that which Jokic ignores shined through, ultimately.
“I’m extremely competitive, if anybody didn’t know,” Embiid said. “So if you’re telling me that this is the best player in the league and this guy’s better than me, then of course I’m gonna go out and try to see for myself. Like, are people right?”
He’s OK with the consensus for now.
