Joel Embiid is trying to recover his best form after going down with an injury a couple of weeks ago. The Cameroonian big man missed 10 games for the Philadelphia 76ers after a scary fall against the Washington Wizards. Now he’s back and ready to reclaim what he believes belonged to him before he was hurt.
The player was a candidate to win the 2021 MVP award, probably the biggest one alongside LeBron James but the 27-year-old is now trying to prove nothing has changed for him, although other players like Nikola Jokic or James Harden have taken over after JoJo and Bron went down with injuries. On Saturday, he went off against the Oklahoma City Thunder, dropping 27 points, to go along with 9 rebounds. Following the game, he was asked if he still considers he’s an MVP candidate and his response left no room for doubt.
“When it comes to the MVP stuff, I feel like I’m still right there. When I’m on the floor, I feel like I’ve been the best all season. Just doing my thing, just dominating. I’ve been dominant all season, and I’m not gonna stop,” he said.
Embiid has big goals for his career. He’s aspiring to win DPOY awards and be part of All-NBA Defensive Teams in the future but right now his focus is on getting this Sixers team to the postseason. He will have to fight hard against the other players who can win the coveted prize but JoJo is confident he’s right there with the rest of the candidates.
He wants what’s best for his team and he wants to get all the help they can. Talking about his teammate Ben Simmons, the talented center said that he’s always asking him the point guard to be aggressive every night.
“For sure,” Embiid said when talking about Ben’s scoring more points. “He’s a playmaker, and he wants to be a playmaker. He wants to get everybody involved. But at times you also need to just be aggressive and make the guys on the other teams guard him”
“Like tonight, we saw it. I was really excited when he made those two shots. He’s starting to be comfortable. He’s getting back to where he was right before All-Star break, so he’s gotta keep on doing it.”
Embiid on Simmons (cont): "Like tonight, we saw it. I was really excited when he made those two shots. He's starting to be comfortable. He's getting back to where he was right before All-Star break, so he's gotta keep on doing it."
— Derek Bodner (@DerekBodnerNBA) April 11, 2021
The Sixers have a pair of great players in Embiid and Simmons and that’s the reason why they will be a threat in the East during the playoffs. If they remain healthy, this team is going to create a lot of problems around the association.
