When we finally caught up with Joel Embiid, he was sitting high up in Section 130 at Ball Arena Monday night, enthralled by the halftime show. Gotta admit, the dude looked a lot shorter in person.
“I get a lot of grief for this,” laughed Bryce Margolis of Boulder, flashing his No. 21 76ers jersey proudly in the stands, repping Philly even when Embiid wasn’t. “They just give me the ‘MVP’ (expletive). You know how it goes. As a Philly fan, I think we’re looking for a ring and not the MVP trophy.”
Yeah, well, good luck, pal. Especially with that last one. MVPs are for dudes, as my old pal Steve Addazio liked to say.
And dudes show up.
They show up on the road. They show up at sea level. They show up at altitude. They show up big where they’re loved. They show up even bigger where they’re despised.
NBA TV showed up Monday night. The New York Times showed up. ESPN showed up. Nikola Jokic showed up, dropping yet another triple-double (25 points, 17 rebounds and 12 assists) for the haters to chew on in a 116-111 Nuggets win.
But when high noon at Mile High came, in what was billed as a showdown between the top two centers in the league, Embiid laid a triple goose egg: Zero points, zero boards, zero dimes. The only place you could find a Sixers “21” jersey in blue or white or red at Ball Arena was in the stands or on the concourse.
Bad calf, Philly coach Doc Rivers said. Load management.
“He did not like the way he was moving,” Rivers explained before the game, “and it was not a hard decision for us.”
Long season, playoff sport, yada-yada-yada. But what the Sixers also did Monday was make it harder for the Jokic-bashers east of Ogallala to wave the whole “head-to-head” argument in everybody’s mug when it comes to the MVP chatter.
Hey, Embiid was brilliant back on Jan. 28 in Philly against the Nuggets, posting 47 points and 18 boards on Denver, a statement game and a statement victory. Jokic was very good — 24 points, nine assists, eight rebounds — that day. Just not great.
But when it’s dude-on-dude, you have to give the other man his serve.
Chase Hontz, a Philly native who’s currently attending CSU, brought his “21” jersey to Ball Arena Monday, too. And he wound up with just as many points during the Nuggets-Sixers rematch as Embiid did: Nada.
“He shouldn’t have played the last two games (before this),” Hontz groused.
“(Rivers) should’ve let him play (Monday). This is my sixth or seventh year in a row seeing (Nuggets-Sixers) play here. And I think (Embiid) has played twice.”
Pretty close. Over the last six seasons, the Sixers star’s played exactly once on Chopper Circle. And appeared just twice here over his first seven years as a pro.
“When you’re in Philly and you wear an opposing team’s jersey, you get a lot worse,” chuckled Chase’s little brother Brady, another “21” in the house and Philly transplant at CSU. “So it’s not bad here. This is nothing. They’re nice here.”
With that, a Nuggs fan poked his head in between two Embiids.
“Hey! Where’s the MVP?” he cried.
They shrugged.
“He’s on the floor,” the fan continued with a smirk. “Playing.”
So, ya know, not that nice.
The signs weren’t kind, either. But they were hilarious. My personal favorite was the Nuggets acolyte who held up a black and white pic of Embiid with the words “MISSING PERSON” stamped across the top as if it had been ripped from the side of a milk carton.
“Yeah, I mean, I was expecting (that center) matchup also,” said Nuggets swingman Bruce Brown, who finished with 18 points and five dimes off the bench. “I mean, Embiid got (Jokic), I guess, in Game 1 because they won (in Philly).
“But I don’t think he’s played here since — when, 2019?”
Nov. 8, 2019. Circle the date.
“Just a tough one, I guess,” Brown mused.
Fans start arguments.
Dudes finish them.
If Embiid had played as well Monday as Joker did in Philly a few months back, win or lose, he might’ve put this MVP race to bed. Now? Now even ESPN’s Kendrick Perkins feels let down. And what was billed as a clash of titans Monday night turned instead into another reminder of a Jokic strength and Embiid’s greatest weakness: Availability.
Since the fall of 2020, in a game against a guy who was top-4 in MVP voting that year or top-4 in ESPN’s running straw poll, Jokic’s had 20 chances to appear. The Joker wound up playing in 18 of those games.
Giannis Antetokounmpo’s attendance mark is even better, appearing in 20 of 21 (95%) potential heavyweight tussles. Embiid: Twenty-two opportunities, 13 appearances (59.1%).
Missing one Denver rematch? It happens. Twice? Bad luck. But five outta six? And three ducks in a row?
Ain’t the calf.
It’s the head.
