Joel Embiid finally got his hands on that MVP trophy after finishing runner-up in the last two seasons, but his early exit from the playoffs led to many questioning if he deserved to win it.
Embiid is the only MVP in NBA history to never even make a Conference Final and has been the subject of heavy criticism recently. Nikola Jokic though, who was beaten out for MVP by Embiid, believes the Philadelphia 76ers big man deserved to win it.
“I don’t think about MVPs anymore,” Jokic said when asked about winning Western Conference Finals MVP. “People are just mean and saying that Embiid shouldn’t have won it. I think he should (have) won it. I think he was playing, if you watch it, extremely, extremely tough basketball through (the) whole season … He was really amazing in 82 games or how many games he played.”
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Jokic could have taken this opportunity to perhaps take a shot at Embiid but instead gave him props for what was an incredible regular season. At the end of the day, the MVP is just a regular season award and Embiid averaged a league-leading 33.1 PPG to go with 10.4 RPG, 4.2 APG, 1.0 SPG, and 1.7 BPG. He just needs to find a way to replicate those performances consistently in the playoffs, or else he is going to get that dreaded label of a playoff choker.
Nikola Jokic Has Silenced His Doubters
There was a lot made of the fact that Jokic didn’t have success in the playoffs after winning MVPs in 2021 and 2022. It is what led to many saying he didn’t deserve to win it three years in a row, as he supposedly couldn’t get it done in the postseason. Safe to say, he has put that narrative to bed now.
He averaged 27.8 PPG, 14.5 RPG, 11.8 APG, 1.3 SPG, and 1.3 BPG against the Los Angeles Lakers to lead the Denver Nuggets to their first Finals appearance in franchise history. All it took, was Jokic finally having a healthy roster around him after the likes of Jamal Murray and Michael Porter Jr. had missed time in the last two seasons. Just like how Jokic has made his doubters look foolish, Embiid can do the same next year and he is capable of that.
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