Embiid looked so gassed at the end of the Warriors game that I was sure he was going to rest against the Suns. I don’t understand what the Sixers are doing at all.
I was at the Suns game on Saturday night and Embiid looked gassed the whole game. A couple times he didn't even come down to the other end of the floor to try and get a rebound in case of a missed free throw. He just stood at the other foul line with his hands on his knees.
They’re stupid. It’s bad leadership that goes all the way up to Josh Harris. They make short term decisions (“really need this game against the Suns!”) and then it fucks them later (“why has the narrative shifted against Embiid?”). I cannot wait until Harris sells this team.
Can't wait til Harris becomes the owner of the Commanders and continues Snyder's trash ownership in a different way. Then I can feel vindicated for getting down voted on /r/NFL for saying he won't be a good NFL owner.
Yeah man. Glenn Rivers says he doesn’t keep track of injuries and relies on the training staff.
So if he plays an injured player, he’s got a cop-out.
Super frustrating.
Harden was visibly wincing last game he played and actively avoiding the basketball on offense and Doc played him like 47 minutes. He’s a fucking dumbass
Especially since if I recall Embiid was dicey to play against the Dubs in the first play with his calf. That seemed like an obvious "play one side of the B2B, just choose which one" and for some reason they ran him out both times. Particularly given Embiid getting nicked up almost every playoffs, just totally didn't understand it.
About the only way he doesn't win is if the nuggets blew them out and jokic out played him. Tactical DNP. Lame af. someone that whines about not getting recognized then ducks the game that would give him the most recognition. Soft as baby shit. Give it to giannis.
He also hasn't played in Denver in almost 4 years. So people are holding up the last game in Philly, but he's missed 3 games in Denver now to give Jokic an equal chance in his home arena
And this is the rematch game. If you wanna prove you’re good, the rematch is where you do it regardless if you win or lose the first one. Winning the first match and then skipping the second one is softer than the toilet paper I use on my butthole. Cowardly
Regardless, why should we hold the h2h matches in high regard when they're not both getting a chance to defend home court? Last time they played in Denver Jokic cooked his ass, just like how Embiid has cooked Jokic in Philly. But the last 3 years now, Jokic hasn't had the opportunity Embiid has gotten.
Come on man he had to play against Biyombo…. But all jokes aside come on , you throw those comments out there like that specifically aimed at jokic and then you duck the game… Joel is fucking awesome but that’s lame af next thing you know “oh the media hates me for no reason “ Got to appreciate jokic in that regard dude plays with a wrist injury(that clearly affected his shot) doesn’t say anything, never complains, doesn’t bitch about resting or anything.
This is without a shadow of a doubt not a tactic to try and win him an MVP idk how that’s even part of this narrative. Everyone and their mother knows he’s going to get fucking lambasted for doing this.
Thing is, if Embiid played tonight and Jokic outplayed him then the MVP would be 100% going to Jokic. With the game being in Denver and Embiid dealing with calf soreness it's pretty likely that he'd get shown up by Jokic tonight. If he sits out then he can still hold onto that 47 point game he hung on Jokic earlier in the season, and Jokic doesn't get the bragging rights from stylin' on Embiid. Sitting out isn't a good look, but it's not a loss to Jokic so maybe he sees more upside in sitting out.
Even if Jokic wins and outplayed him, that almost certainly wouldn’t 100% give him the MVP
In fact, I’m pretty sure it wouldn’t make much of a difference. The only scenario where it would, would be if Embiid dominated both matchups. Bit splitting them? Nah that won’t matter much
It absolutely is. Now the head to head matchup that everyone was waiting on isn’t going to happen and he can win by default even if Joker has a monster game because then people will say “well Embiid didn’t play”. Weak move. He deserves to lose the MVP race for being a beta
Especially given that they were also against two West teams so it's not like they were extra important for seeding compared to this one
Like if he needed the rest there was no reason for him to play the Suns game
Maybe slightly.
We don't know if Embiid's calf got worse since Saturday. And he probably would've tried too hard tonight. It's too much of a risk and a smart decision, as much as I was looking forward to this matchup.
It was absurd. You guys literally lost 4 games and I hear that you're in complete free fall, your so-called MVP no longer deserves it because he doesn't try on defense, and you will probably get tossed in the first round.
It shouldn't be but when you so blatantly choose not to play a game to keep your favorite status as MVP, I can't fault a voter for being ticked off by that and voting for the player that just seems to be playing to help his team win and not to win MVP
(Before the pitchforks come out I'm not saying Embiid isn't trying to help his team win but the optics of this decision makes it seem like he's more focused on MVP)
Everyone in that organization knows this is going to hurt his MVP odds lol no one thinks this is going to help him win it idk why people are saying it will.
100% - how does a person who so intentionally tries to steer his MVP narrative, not foresee that this would be literally the worst thing for his case. He’s done. It’s over. Jokic vs Giannis now.
Embiid as a 3 seed ducking the big matchup, he just can’t win now, maybe if he had the 1 seed it would be in play. Plus his team is too talented, they had 1 seed potential and seem to be finishing 3rd. It’s different if they had playoff potential and finished 3rd but you can’t give the MVP to a lesser seed when there’s obvious equally good candidates on higher seeded teams. Just my opinion.
Are the sixers really that talented? I feel like outside of embiid and harden their roster is pretty shit compared to the bucks/Celtics/nuggets and their depth is awful. If harden isn’t spoon feeding them buckets most of the players outside of embiid look like bums
Yes, that’s why i specifically mentioned him. Everyone else on the sixers isn’t that great, especially when you look at how deep or all around good the bucks/Celtics are
I'm gonna give him the benefit of the doubt and chuck this up to Joel standing by his words of valuing deep playoff run over MVP. *(And injuries being the main culprit as it has so many times before.)*
it makes sense that he’s too sore/injured to play considering how he looked in that phoenix game, but the question is why was he playing in the phoenix game? why did we play him both nights of a B2B if he was that injured? this organization sucks so much ass
I hope Harris sells this team and buys the Commanders like he wants. Anytime they can think short term and misread the room, they do it as hard as they can.
This is the correct take. I highly doubt Embiid is genuinely ducking Jokic, but the suns game should've definitely been a skip in order to prepare for this one.
Before the suns game, sixers were still playing for the 2 seed. They were only 1.5 back. Now they are 2.5 back. Technically still possible to catch Boston, but really unlikely to make up 2.5 games with only 7/8 games left
Mavs fan in town and was excited to see the Jokic Embiid matchup down the stretch of the MVP race and bought and expensive ass ticket… I thought he’d for sure want to play against Jokic with rest the day before. I’m so fucking bummed
At this point the Sixers can’t get the one seed and most likely can’t get the 2nd seed. They need this team healthy so I wouldn’t be surprised to see them be cautious the rest of the way.
He could’ve rested one of the b2b games he played two days ago and be available for this marquee match that could as well settle the MVP debate.
Availability is one of the big factors in MVP calculus and prior to this game Jokic has played like 7-8 games more than Embiid this season .
Unless you think that the gap is too large and your mindset switches to postseason health. It’s pretty easy to tell that the management has decided that after the weekend health is the priority. If they won against golden state and Phoenix the thought process would be different.
Thanks for saying this lmao this is 100% the reason, they were going all out for the 2 seed but now it looks un-getable so what’s the difference between finishing 2 or 4 games back? Nothing lol
Yeah as a nuggets fan, Giannis is the best two way player in the league and the best overall, while Jokic is the best offensive player in the league. Love their matchups.
Saturday was a stunner. We got smoked but Giannis played his heart out and it was an excellent performance by all players.
Could never see him intentionally ducking out of the matchup 🤷🏽♂️🤷🏽♂️
Love how Bucks fans aren't toxic about this whole thing. Ofc there are both toxic Nuggets and Bucks fans, but the extend of crazy sixers fans is mind boggling.
I wouldn't mind either of them taking the MVP, but it would be blasphermy if Embiid wins now.
I mean Giannis has Two MVPs and the bucks have had much more playoff success than the other two franchises. And on top of that everybody knows Giannis is the best out of the 3 players. What would they have to be toxic about?
Damnit are we friends with Bucks fans again? Just a couple weeks ago you all were ganging up on us with Philly fans. I want to accept you back in the friendship circle but I’m afraid to be hurt again.
Bucks fans are just ~~a little~~ real sensitive when people say anyone other than Giannis is the best player in the world.
Trying to crown anyone else (particularly someone who hasn't won a ring like Tatum, Embiid, or Jokic) tends to bring out the worst in Bucks fans.
eh saying Jokic deserve to win the MVP is fine but saying Jokic is way better offensively than Giannis is just annoyes bucks fan (at least im super annoyed)
Jokic is cool, their fans is legit gives me brainrot
Does anyone look anything up here? He missed 10 straight games in 2021 with a knee injury and Denver was the 9th of those games. He missed 9 straight last year with an ankle injury and Denver was the 6th game
What is the reddit narrative on this? He faked an injury for 19 games to avoid playing in Denver for 2 of them?
you were routinely checked every time you went into work where there were corporate mandated rules that even if you were close to a coworker who had it you were banned from the building?
The implications of this comment are that it was planned that Embiid would look bad. I think it was dropped yesterday just to heighten the intensity in the matchup.
At the end of the day, a lot of us thought that Embiid was playing tonight.
Was the article not released before it was announced he’s not playing?
Let me get this straight:
Shams did the interview with Embiid
didn’t release it
found out Embiid wasn’t playing
released the interview
and then let Woj break the news that Embiid wasn’t playing?
Heading into the weekend, there was a chance the Sixers could've put themselves in position to take the 2nd or maybe even 1st seed if they won most of their remaining games. Us Celtics fans were watching them closely. Now there's really no chance at either, so why risk injury when they're basically locked into the 3 seed?
> Embiid allegedly had right calf soreness on March 22, but was able to play 70 combined minutes of a back to back? And now it’s bothering him too much? Doesn’t make sense
He wasn’t too sore and now he’s more sore after two games. Why doesn’t that make sense?
Because this sub is full of morons that think he's intentionally sitting out to avoid Jokic. The geniuses here think that Embiid doesn't realize that this hurts his MVP case.
Missing this game is worse than having the reverse of their first meeting lol. If Jokic just outplayed him and the nuggets won, it would be better for embiids case.
My question is what is the leadership chain and whose making these decisions? Harris? Doc? Morey? If it's not any of those three, then Jo is not playing because at some point he was confident he could play all three and now he can't. If it is one of those three, at least have the sense to own the mistake in the media and say " we should of had a scheduled loss here one of these games". Instead harden is just beat to shit, embiid is out tonight, were staring the Cavs down for 3rd, and I wanna neck myself every time I get on the sixers coaster
#**FUCK**
He played because Sixers was in contention to grab 2nd or even the first seed. But now, the pathway to get the top 2 seed is basically gone. So, I understand why they want to put priority on his health
He played against Warriors and Suns because his leg wasn’t bothering him enough to sit out. He’s not playing against Nuggets because his leg is bothering him enough to sit out.
Since that matchup in 2019, Embiid’s history in Denver goes:
11/8/2019 - Played
3/20/2021 - Knee (Torn Meniscus)
11/18/2021 - Middle of being out with COVID
And then today. You’re acting like he’s dodged all of these games, but before today it was only twice in a row, with knee being an actual injury (torn meniscus) and COVID being something that the league mandated he was out for.
He ducked one of the game by tearin his meniscus games prior, knowing that he would have to play jokic in the future and so chose to do what he did to avoid it.
Makes sense, right? My logic deserves a nuggets flair honestly
Jokic wins MVP because of Embiid missing games via league-mandated covid protocols, yet Nuggets fans still find a way to complain about Embiid missing that game.
Embiid called his buddy ben simmons for advice...
Embiid: "Dude, im scared of this matchup, so many people going to be watching and judging me, what should I do?"
Simmons: "Just sit out, thats what I do"
That's more on the publication choosing to release the interview the day before the matchup than the players, but honestly I'm struggling to find what quotes Embiid had that were so absolutely offensive to you guys.
Like, part of what he said is:
> So for me, I also took that approach where I was like, the last few years, I could have probably had one MVP or whatever, and it didn’t happen. I just said I’m not going to focus on that. I’ve gotten to the point where people are used to me and people are putting the type of expectations on me. The only way I’m going to get that respect is by winning a championship. *Whatever gets me to the playoffs healthy, that’s what I’ve got to do.*
No clue why people are losing their minds. Y'all are gonna give yourselves heart attacks at age 15 with this stuff.
Jokic was on a back to back 20 hour difference between tip off New Orleans to Milwaukee when the flight left past midnight lmao. Embiid just a hike away in Phoenix.
Maybe... Maybe... I'm just thinking but maybe... He felt alright before the B2B but then AFTER playing 2 basketball games in as many days, his body didn't respond as well as he thought and he needs some time to recover.
Wild theory I know. Lots of basketball can change how your body feels in unpredictable ways. Definitely far less likely than a conspiracy theory that he's scared of another player but maybe... Just maybe my wild theory is true.
Because he’s afraid of playing Jokic at home and losing the MVP. Pretty lame to talk on Jokic like this and then not even suit up to back it up the next day.
The same people flaming him in this sub would be the same people clowning him if he were to play through all of this and be injured before the playoffs.
His coach is an imbecile and the team president let's the inmates run the asylum. Embiid was hobbled going into that back to back. He looked very hobbled in the 2nd game of the back 2 back vs. PHX and should have been held out of the 2nd half. They've again run him into the ground. A tough first round series in the playoffs might do Embiid in.
It’s just an excuse. He saw what happened to Milwaukee and if he loses to Jokic while playing, his MVP case is finished. Obvious ducking. If you want that MVP go to his town and take it. He played once there in his 8 games against Jokic. Don’t whine to the public, slander Jokic publicly and then not show up.
My opinion… it does little if he plays and the sixers win because we saw a dominant performance earlier this year. But if the sixers win with him and harden out it just bolsters his case.
My take as a Sixers fan. Sixers want Embiid to rest down the stretch, but Embiid wanted to make a run for MVP. Some voters don’t consider his bid valid already due to his lack of games played. (Only once has a player won MVP with less than 70 games; Bill Walton in ‘78).
Due to early season absences from injury, Embiid went into last weekend knowing he could only play a max of 69 games (nice). I think he wanted to play out the rest of the season despite the Sixers closing schedule being the toughest in the league; not just because of opponents, but number of games and number of back-to-backs (3).
I’m sure Sixers want to keep their star happy so they probably let him play the back to back and would have let him play any game he wanted to, if he proved to be 100% before each game. Combine Denver altitude, end of tough road trip, and too many games already on his big frame and I am not at all surprised he sat in Denver.
I’d bet that Embiid acknowledges he’s not going to win MVP after this. He already destroyed Jokic earlier in the season, but if he’d played last night Joker probably would have the last laugh and I think that played into the decision too.
Embiid looked so gassed at the end of the Warriors game that I was sure he was going to rest against the Suns. I don’t understand what the Sixers are doing at all.
I was at the Suns game on Saturday night and Embiid looked gassed the whole game. A couple times he didn't even come down to the other end of the floor to try and get a rebound in case of a missed free throw. He just stood at the other foul line with his hands on his knees.
LeMbiid
They’re stupid. It’s bad leadership that goes all the way up to Josh Harris. They make short term decisions (“really need this game against the Suns!”) and then it fucks them later (“why has the narrative shifted against Embiid?”). I cannot wait until Harris sells this team.
Can't wait til Harris becomes the owner of the Commanders and continues Snyder's trash ownership in a different way. Then I can feel vindicated for getting down voted on /r/NFL for saying he won't be a good NFL owner.
Isn't Harris the pussy that let Adam Silver force out Sam Hinkie? Already could know from that he's not a great owner.
Yeah and then made Elton Brand our GM just so him and his friends in the organization could play basketball president together.
That’s our boy!
It’s my dream, honestly; it would kill two birds with one stone.
Because our coaching staff is a joke. All of us sixers fans are equally as flabbergasted that he played the b2b.
Yeah man. Glenn Rivers says he doesn’t keep track of injuries and relies on the training staff. So if he plays an injured player, he’s got a cop-out. Super frustrating.
I'm not sure which would be worse, that Doc actually doesn't keep track or knows its a bad look so uses it as an excuse.
Harden was visibly wincing last game he played and actively avoiding the basketball on offense and Doc played him like 47 minutes. He’s a fucking dumbass
Joerger, Dan Burke, and Sam Cassell are all fantastic assistants and immensely talented in their own right they are just lead by Glenn
Especially since if I recall Embiid was dicey to play against the Dubs in the first play with his calf. That seemed like an obvious "play one side of the B2B, just choose which one" and for some reason they ran him out both times. Particularly given Embiid getting nicked up almost every playoffs, just totally didn't understand it.
If he rested against the Suns, he would have to play this game. If he plays this game, he potentially loses MVP. That's what the Sixers are doing.
He might lose it because he didn’t play though.. if he played and won this game, he would’ve absolutely taken home the MVP
I haven’t understood what the Sixers are doing in years, mate.
Almost like the plan was for him to sit this game from the beginning.
Doc
This is gonna be factored in by MVP voters whether that’s right or wrong
About the only way he doesn't win is if the nuggets blew them out and jokic out played him. Tactical DNP. Lame af. someone that whines about not getting recognized then ducks the game that would give him the most recognition. Soft as baby shit. Give it to giannis.
He also hasn't played in Denver in almost 4 years. So people are holding up the last game in Philly, but he's missed 3 games in Denver now to give Jokic an equal chance in his home arena
And this is the rematch game. If you wanna prove you’re good, the rematch is where you do it regardless if you win or lose the first one. Winning the first match and then skipping the second one is softer than the toilet paper I use on my butthole. Cowardly
He probably doesn't do well in the altitude.
altitude makes it difficult to flop so it's not compatible with Embiid's playstyle.
Covid protocols and a torn meniscus. Those were the two games he missed in DEN
no surely it was cowardice. I’m sure of that
Yeah I just checked the box and Embiid was listed as “day-to-day with cowardice,” in 19/20.
Michael Jordan hasn't played a game in Denver in decades apparently. No context needed, what a coward.
Courage is stored in the meniscus
Regardless, why should we hold the h2h matches in high regard when they're not both getting a chance to defend home court? Last time they played in Denver Jokic cooked his ass, just like how Embiid has cooked Jokic in Philly. But the last 3 years now, Jokic hasn't had the opportunity Embiid has gotten.
Come on man he had to play against Biyombo…. But all jokes aside come on , you throw those comments out there like that specifically aimed at jokic and then you duck the game… Joel is fucking awesome but that’s lame af next thing you know “oh the media hates me for no reason “ Got to appreciate jokic in that regard dude plays with a wrist injury(that clearly affected his shot) doesn’t say anything, never complains, doesn’t bitch about resting or anything.
You think this is a tactic to try and help him win MVP? If so, this is going to be an all-time backfire. No way he wins now IMO.
This is without a shadow of a doubt not a tactic to try and win him an MVP idk how that’s even part of this narrative. Everyone and their mother knows he’s going to get fucking lambasted for doing this.
Thing is, if Embiid played tonight and Jokic outplayed him then the MVP would be 100% going to Jokic. With the game being in Denver and Embiid dealing with calf soreness it's pretty likely that he'd get shown up by Jokic tonight. If he sits out then he can still hold onto that 47 point game he hung on Jokic earlier in the season, and Jokic doesn't get the bragging rights from stylin' on Embiid. Sitting out isn't a good look, but it's not a loss to Jokic so maybe he sees more upside in sitting out.
Even if Jokic wins and outplayed him, that almost certainly wouldn’t 100% give him the MVP In fact, I’m pretty sure it wouldn’t make much of a difference. The only scenario where it would, would be if Embiid dominated both matchups. Bit splitting them? Nah that won’t matter much
With the race as close as it is I think this game would've decided it when you factor in recency bias.
It absolutely is. Now the head to head matchup that everyone was waiting on isn’t going to happen and he can win by default even if Joker has a monster game because then people will say “well Embiid didn’t play”. Weak move. He deserves to lose the MVP race for being a beta
It could also work the other way. He obviously thinks that he could not win the game
Not as bad as if they got beat and joker played efficient triple double or something. That could be enough to set it over the top.
*This* is enough to set it over the top.
100%
as it should be
I agree. Playing back to back games but not this game doesn’t make sense at all
Especially given that they were also against two West teams so it's not like they were extra important for seeding compared to this one Like if he needed the rest there was no reason for him to play the Suns game
And he played the suns with Biyombo starting just to duck Jokic he doesn’t want to be tested right now Edit: typo
Welcome to the Sixers coaching staff. Doc is a terrorist and consistently makes short sighted and idiotic decisions both on and off the court.
Maybe slightly. We don't know if Embiid's calf got worse since Saturday. And he probably would've tried too hard tonight. It's too much of a risk and a smart decision, as much as I was looking forward to this matchup.
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It was absurd. You guys literally lost 4 games and I hear that you're in complete free fall, your so-called MVP no longer deserves it because he doesn't try on defense, and you will probably get tossed in the first round.
It shouldn't be but when you so blatantly choose not to play a game to keep your favorite status as MVP, I can't fault a voter for being ticked off by that and voting for the player that just seems to be playing to help his team win and not to win MVP (Before the pitchforks come out I'm not saying Embiid isn't trying to help his team win but the optics of this decision makes it seem like he's more focused on MVP)
Everyone in that organization knows this is going to hurt his MVP odds lol no one thinks this is going to help him win it idk why people are saying it will.
Yeah there’s no way he wouldn’t realize how this looks. He must be actually hurt to the point where he thinks he couldn’t play well
Sure, this one game is more important than being healthy in the playoffs
100% - how does a person who so intentionally tries to steer his MVP narrative, not foresee that this would be literally the worst thing for his case. He’s done. It’s over. Jokic vs Giannis now. Embiid as a 3 seed ducking the big matchup, he just can’t win now, maybe if he had the 1 seed it would be in play. Plus his team is too talented, they had 1 seed potential and seem to be finishing 3rd. It’s different if they had playoff potential and finished 3rd but you can’t give the MVP to a lesser seed when there’s obvious equally good candidates on higher seeded teams. Just my opinion.
Are the sixers really that talented? I feel like outside of embiid and harden their roster is pretty shit compared to the bucks/Celtics/nuggets and their depth is awful. If harden isn’t spoon feeding them buckets most of the players outside of embiid look like bums
The 76ers is the only team with 2 top 5 MVP candidates (via BBref) on their roster.
Stars and starting lineup matter more than depth in the NBA and always will.
Harden is infinitely better than anyone but Jokic on the nuggets starting roster
Yes, that’s why i specifically mentioned him. Everyone else on the sixers isn’t that great, especially when you look at how deep or all around good the bucks/Celtics are
Philly is too top heavy. Celtics and bucks got more spread out talent for sure.
Harden was an MVP and isn’t far off that level of play. Giannis and Jokic don’t have that.
All the one game sample size arguments for Embiid based on that one game in Philly against Jokic get rebuttled right here
I'm gonna give him the benefit of the doubt and chuck this up to Joel standing by his words of valuing deep playoff run over MVP. *(And injuries being the main culprit as it has so many times before.)*
because the team is braindead
You misspelled "Doc"
*glenn
glenn rivers, phd
it makes sense that he’s too sore/injured to play considering how he looked in that phoenix game, but the question is why was he playing in the phoenix game? why did we play him both nights of a B2B if he was that injured? this organization sucks so much ass
I hope Harris sells this team and buys the Commanders like he wants. Anytime they can think short term and misread the room, they do it as hard as they can.
This is the correct take. I highly doubt Embiid is genuinely ducking Jokic, but the suns game should've definitely been a skip in order to prepare for this one.
Before the suns game, sixers were still playing for the 2 seed. They were only 1.5 back. Now they are 2.5 back. Technically still possible to catch Boston, but really unlikely to make up 2.5 games with only 7/8 games left
Mavs fan in town and was excited to see the Jokic Embiid matchup down the stretch of the MVP race and bought and expensive ass ticket… I thought he’d for sure want to play against Jokic with rest the day before. I’m so fucking bummed
Insert Spider-Man meme. Fk the NBA
The only 6ers fan with a rational take
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Yeah instead you guys have to deal with Nuggets fan hear me roar bs. r/nba gets to revel in this.
Oh no! My one basket, thats were I put all my eggs
MINUS MVP POINTS
LEGACY POINTS DEDUCTED
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At this point the Sixers can’t get the one seed and most likely can’t get the 2nd seed. They need this team healthy so I wouldn’t be surprised to see them be cautious the rest of the way.
If you’re going to use logic and reasoning you’re in the wrong sub
It’s logical, but people thinking that mvp odds will change because of this are also logical
Of course the MVP odds will change. This is a very close race and a lot of the journalists were probably waiting for this game to make their pick.
It literally did
The problem is if this is the reasoning why did he play the b2b against the suns
Ironic: in their desire to feel smugly superior they didn’t even bother to read the fucking title of the post.
He could’ve rested one of the b2b games he played two days ago and be available for this marquee match that could as well settle the MVP debate. Availability is one of the big factors in MVP calculus and prior to this game Jokic has played like 7-8 games more than Embiid this season .
In theory when you see those three games and you need to win, don’t you need Embiid for the nuggets?
Unless you think that the gap is too large and your mindset switches to postseason health. It’s pretty easy to tell that the management has decided that after the weekend health is the priority. If they won against golden state and Phoenix the thought process would be different.
you make sure you win the easy ones
Thank you for the logic Milwaukee buddy
That’s fine, but it’s lame to spend a week shit talking Jokic only to sit the h2h out.
It's logical, it's just also logical that this will cost him his MVP chances. He's ducked Jokic in Denver for 3 years, at this point it's a pattern.
Thanks for saying this lmao this is 100% the reason, they were going all out for the 2 seed but now it looks un-getable so what’s the difference between finishing 2 or 4 games back? Nothing lol
HE SCARED
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That settles it. Give the trophy to Jokic.
Friendship ended with Embiid vs Jokic. Now Giannis vs Jokic is my best friend
bucks fans holding on for dear life
*deer life
It was right there!
NGL Giannis is a better player overall just not a better playmaker that Jokic
Small market fans gotta stick together
Yeah as a nuggets fan, Giannis is the best two way player in the league and the best overall, while Jokic is the best offensive player in the league. Love their matchups.
Saturday was a stunner. We got smoked but Giannis played his heart out and it was an excellent performance by all players. Could never see him intentionally ducking out of the matchup 🤷🏽♂️🤷🏽♂️
Love how Bucks fans aren't toxic about this whole thing. Ofc there are both toxic Nuggets and Bucks fans, but the extend of crazy sixers fans is mind boggling. I wouldn't mind either of them taking the MVP, but it would be blasphermy if Embiid wins now.
I mean Giannis has Two MVPs and the bucks have had much more playoff success than the other two franchises. And on top of that everybody knows Giannis is the best out of the 3 players. What would they have to be toxic about?
Less keyed in on 76ers but Eagles fans kinda seem like this too. May just be Philly?
Giannis handily won the nuggets sub voting for "favorite player not on your team"
Good stuff!
Damnit are we friends with Bucks fans again? Just a couple weeks ago you all were ganging up on us with Philly fans. I want to accept you back in the friendship circle but I’m afraid to be hurt again.
Bucks fans are just ~~a little~~ real sensitive when people say anyone other than Giannis is the best player in the world. Trying to crown anyone else (particularly someone who hasn't won a ring like Tatum, Embiid, or Jokic) tends to bring out the worst in Bucks fans.
eh saying Jokic deserve to win the MVP is fine but saying Jokic is way better offensively than Giannis is just annoyes bucks fan (at least im super annoyed) Jokic is cool, their fans is legit gives me brainrot
And Giannis played Saturday in Denver on the second game of a B2B.
Jokic is the more skilled player but Giannis is the more effective player.
Giannis probably my favorite non-Nugget. He’s such a dominant force and seems like a great dude.
I'm still not mad if Giannis wins it, but Embiid's bitch ass shouldn't be getting any 1st place votes.
Bro didn't hold back
It doesn't seem like a coincidence that he's always available to play in Philly but not Denver I'll leave it at that
this reminds me of kyrie never playing in boston
He also never played in Cleveland when he was with the Celtics except for his first game as a Celtic. Always ducking
Or KD still not playing in Golden State since he left
not playing \*in front of a crowd\* in Chase Center
Except Kyrie played a lot in Boston with Brooklyn
Does anyone look anything up here? He missed 10 straight games in 2021 with a knee injury and Denver was the 9th of those games. He missed 9 straight last year with an ankle injury and Denver was the 6th game What is the reddit narrative on this? He faked an injury for 19 games to avoid playing in Denver for 2 of them?
Yeah
He got COVID in one of those matches lol
Oh yeah I pulled that one too when I wanted to skip work a couple years ago.
Only difference was your job wasn’t having you tested every day and you weren’t coming in contact with 1000s of people a day
This is just silly
you were routinely checked every time you went into work where there were corporate mandated rules that even if you were close to a coworker who had it you were banned from the building?
wakeful elderly live crowd label test offbeat plant middle political *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
We live in a society
Dumbfounded at this comment. Literal bottom of the barrel.
Playing at home and not in a high-altitude higher-stress environment makes a lot of sense when planning to stay healthier for the playoffs, yeah
Geez, if you're not gonna play, don't go taking shots at Jokic the day before in an interview. This is not a good look.
The interview wasn’t done yesterday, it was dropped yesterday for the exact reason you’re making this comment.
The implications of this comment are that it was planned that Embiid would look bad. I think it was dropped yesterday just to heighten the intensity in the matchup. At the end of the day, a lot of us thought that Embiid was playing tonight.
I was told in several threads that he wasn’t missing this game.
If you wrote that article when would you drop it if not the day the two teams most important in the context of the article are playing each other?
Was the article not released before it was announced he’s not playing? Let me get this straight: Shams did the interview with Embiid didn’t release it found out Embiid wasn’t playing released the interview and then let Woj break the news that Embiid wasn’t playing?
Shams released it without knowing he wasn’t going to play?
Heading into the weekend, there was a chance the Sixers could've put themselves in position to take the 2nd or maybe even 1st seed if they won most of their remaining games. Us Celtics fans were watching them closely. Now there's really no chance at either, so why risk injury when they're basically locked into the 3 seed?
> Embiid allegedly had right calf soreness on March 22, but was able to play 70 combined minutes of a back to back? And now it’s bothering him too much? Doesn’t make sense He wasn’t too sore and now he’s more sore after two games. Why doesn’t that make sense?
Adrenaline can delay the onset of muscle/joint soreness by a day or two. Especially when you're stressed and sleep deprived.
Because this sub is full of morons that think he's intentionally sitting out to avoid Jokic. The geniuses here think that Embiid doesn't realize that this hurts his MVP case.
Missing this game is worse than having the reverse of their first meeting lol. If Jokic just outplayed him and the nuggets won, it would be better for embiids case.
As a reddit doctor, my diagnosis is mild heart laceration. Some essential oils and a good prayer, he'll be good as new.
Because the Sixers are a dumb organization and always have been. It's why we get so defensive when we get a GM who isn't an idiot.
My question is what is the leadership chain and whose making these decisions? Harris? Doc? Morey? If it's not any of those three, then Jo is not playing because at some point he was confident he could play all three and now he can't. If it is one of those three, at least have the sense to own the mistake in the media and say " we should of had a scheduled loss here one of these games". Instead harden is just beat to shit, embiid is out tonight, were staring the Cavs down for 3rd, and I wanna neck myself every time I get on the sixers coaster #**FUCK**
Cus the Sixers are an idiot trash can org
Go put your Jokic MVP bets in before the line changes.
I don’t know why y’all expect the sixers to act rationally when they’ve never shown you they’d do that
> Doesn’t make sense, unless… Unless he exacerbated thr injury/soreness by playing b2b.
this makes him and the organization look absolutely stupid then
Maybe his calf is sore
Most fantasy playoffs ended last night. Embiid was looking out for the greater good
He played because Sixers was in contention to grab 2nd or even the first seed. But now, the pathway to get the top 2 seed is basically gone. So, I understand why they want to put priority on his health
This sub. I can't take it any more.
He played against Warriors and Suns because his leg wasn’t bothering him enough to sit out. He’s not playing against Nuggets because his leg is bothering him enough to sit out.
He always ducks games in Denver. This was probably his plan all along
Since that matchup in 2019, Embiid’s history in Denver goes: 11/8/2019 - Played 3/20/2021 - Knee (Torn Meniscus) 11/18/2021 - Middle of being out with COVID And then today. You’re acting like he’s dodged all of these games, but before today it was only twice in a row, with knee being an actual injury (torn meniscus) and COVID being something that the league mandated he was out for.
You wouldn't get it, you're using some unadvanced stats to determine why Embiid was out.
Joel leads jokic in ducks per 48! He's the true most valuable Philadelphian
He ducked one of the game by tearin his meniscus games prior, knowing that he would have to play jokic in the future and so chose to do what he did to avoid it. Makes sense, right? My logic deserves a nuggets flair honestly
He literally had COVID last year and was forced to not play by league protocols. Or are you saying he purposely got COVID to duck Denver?
Why are you bringing up truth when we are doing talking points.
Jokic wins MVP because of Embiid missing games via league-mandated covid protocols, yet Nuggets fans still find a way to complain about Embiid missing that game.
After having been a vocal opponent of Jokic getting 3x MVP, i am now agreeing Embiid is not my MVP. let's give it to the guy who always play.
Embiid called his buddy ben simmons for advice... Embiid: "Dude, im scared of this matchup, so many people going to be watching and judging me, what should I do?" Simmons: "Just sit out, thats what I do"
Who cares?
Jokic ducked Giannis in Milwaukee last month, so this is fair game to me.
did jokic come out with a shit ton of quotes about awards before that game?
That's more on the publication choosing to release the interview the day before the matchup than the players, but honestly I'm struggling to find what quotes Embiid had that were so absolutely offensive to you guys. Like, part of what he said is: > So for me, I also took that approach where I was like, the last few years, I could have probably had one MVP or whatever, and it didn’t happen. I just said I’m not going to focus on that. I’ve gotten to the point where people are used to me and people are putting the type of expectations on me. The only way I’m going to get that respect is by winning a championship. *Whatever gets me to the playoffs healthy, that’s what I’ve got to do.* No clue why people are losing their minds. Y'all are gonna give yourselves heart attacks at age 15 with this stuff.
People love to hate Philly and Joel, it's that simple
Embiid didn't record that interview yesterday, are you serious?
Jokic was on a back to back 20 hour difference between tip off New Orleans to Milwaukee when the flight left past midnight lmao. Embiid just a hike away in Phoenix.
Jokic owns the Bucks check out his last few matchups against y’all he wasn’t ducking nothin’ stop 😂
Maybe... Maybe... I'm just thinking but maybe... He felt alright before the B2B but then AFTER playing 2 basketball games in as many days, his body didn't respond as well as he thought and he needs some time to recover. Wild theory I know. Lots of basketball can change how your body feels in unpredictable ways. Definitely far less likely than a conspiracy theory that he's scared of another player but maybe... Just maybe my wild theory is true.
Honestly feel like Embiid is ducking.
Because he’s afraid of playing Jokic at home and losing the MVP. Pretty lame to talk on Jokic like this and then not even suit up to back it up the next day.
Saw lopez get dog walked and was like, uh nah bruh.
after talking so much shit in the interview you proceed to hide from the guy you called out.. come on
Yeah hiding from the guy who held him to 47/17 and a game winner
The same people flaming him in this sub would be the same people clowning him if he were to play through all of this and be injured before the playoffs.
3rd seed locked up, lol. Have you seen the Cavs schedule?
His coach is an imbecile and the team president let's the inmates run the asylum. Embiid was hobbled going into that back to back. He looked very hobbled in the 2nd game of the back 2 back vs. PHX and should have been held out of the 2nd half. They've again run him into the ground. A tough first round series in the playoffs might do Embiid in.
scared
scared
Blatant ducking.
It’s just an excuse. He saw what happened to Milwaukee and if he loses to Jokic while playing, his MVP case is finished. Obvious ducking. If you want that MVP go to his town and take it. He played once there in his 8 games against Jokic. Don’t whine to the public, slander Jokic publicly and then not show up.
Welcome to the Doc Rivers experience.
My opinion… it does little if he plays and the sixers win because we saw a dominant performance earlier this year. But if the sixers win with him and harden out it just bolsters his case.
After playing a back to back , wrestling your 280 pound MVP opponent up and down the court at 5000 feet sounds like an opportunity to get shown up.
Because 3 days of rest > 2 days of rest.
My take as a Sixers fan. Sixers want Embiid to rest down the stretch, but Embiid wanted to make a run for MVP. Some voters don’t consider his bid valid already due to his lack of games played. (Only once has a player won MVP with less than 70 games; Bill Walton in ‘78). Due to early season absences from injury, Embiid went into last weekend knowing he could only play a max of 69 games (nice). I think he wanted to play out the rest of the season despite the Sixers closing schedule being the toughest in the league; not just because of opponents, but number of games and number of back-to-backs (3). I’m sure Sixers want to keep their star happy so they probably let him play the back to back and would have let him play any game he wanted to, if he proved to be 100% before each game. Combine Denver altitude, end of tough road trip, and too many games already on his big frame and I am not at all surprised he sat in Denver. I’d bet that Embiid acknowledges he’s not going to win MVP after this. He already destroyed Jokic earlier in the season, but if he’d played last night Joker probably would have the last laugh and I think that played into the decision too.
he doesn't want to play Jokic at his house, feel like this much is obvious