“Just like a season ago, Joel Embiid orchestrated a late surge to lead the 76ers past Nikola Jokic and the Nuggets on Tuesday in Philadelphia.
Here are three takeaways from Denver’s 126-121 loss:
1. Matchup might not be the most appropriate word to describe the competition between Joel Embiid and Nikola Jokic, the two most likely winners of this season’s Most Valuable Player award. The two centers didn’t spend much time guarding each other. Aaron Gordon did his best against Embiid for Denver, while the 76ers primarily used Tobias Harris on Jokic, allowing Embiid to float around the hoop and tempt Gordon to shoot 3s. Whatever it was, Philadelphia’s star got the better of Denver’s in the teams’ first meeting of the season. Embiid made 13 of 22 shots, including a 3-of-6 mark from 3 and 12 of 15 free throws, to finish with a game-high 41 points. He added 10 assists and seven rebounds. Jokic went 11 of 20, going 0 of 2 from 3 and 3 of 4 on free throws, to finish with 25 points, 19 rebounds and three assists. The second “matchup” is set for Jan. 27 in Denver.”
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Article by Vinny Benedetto is not paywalled to read more.
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“Just like a season ago, Joel Embiid orchestrated a late surge to lead the 76ers past Nikola Jokic and the Nuggets on Tuesday in Philadelphia.
Here are three takeaways from Denver’s 126-121 loss:
1. Matchup might not be the most appropriate word to describe the competition between Joel Embiid and Nikola Jokic, the two most likely winners of this season’s Most Valuable Player award. The two centers didn’t spend much time guarding each other. Aaron Gordon did his best against Embiid for Denver, while the 76ers primarily used Tobias Harris on Jokic, allowing Embiid to float around the hoop and tempt Gordon to shoot 3s. Whatever it was, Philadelphia’s star got the better of Denver’s in the teams’ first meeting of the season. Embiid made 13 of 22 shots, including a 3-of-6 mark from 3 and 12 of 15 free throws, to finish with a game-high 41 points. He added 10 assists and seven rebounds. Jokic went 11 of 20, going 0 of 2 from 3 and 3 of 4 on free throws, to finish with 25 points, 19 rebounds and three assists. The second “matchup” is set for Jan. 27 in Denver.”
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Article by Vinny Benedetto is not paywalled to read more.