FIRST TAKE | Joel Embiid outshines Nikola Jokic in NBA MVPs Matchup as 76ers beat Nuggets -Stephen A

FIRST TAKE | Joel Embiid outshines Nikola Jokic in NBA MVPs Matchup as 76ers beat Nuggets -Stephen A

Best of Nica yic Tuesday as the 76ers won 126 121 versus the Nuggets Joan beid finishes with 41 points and 10 assists in a win versus yic in the Nuggets perk took to social media following the huge win from the Sixers saying Philly fans need to stop crying

On what the Eagles didn’t do and embrace what the 76ers team is capable of doing the season real talk on that note we welcome in Brian wior hey Wendy good morning good morning uh mad dog I’m going to start with you does embiid have enough to win the title this year no he

Does not that team is not winning the NBA championship and perk to be fair the Eagles just had a historic collapse they’re not going to get the the Fest sports fan right now is wrapped up on serani and the eagle disaster not so much on yachin embiid no but the uh the

Big make a bigger picture point the Sixers are not an NBA championship team I know in the last couple years Harden took the hits as he should have and without him they’d be better but I still don’t think they’re better than the 70s than the Celtics or Milwaukee in the

East and one other thing on this topic I mean somewhere Kareem is laughing and Wilt upstairs to saying this is ridiculous how in the world I watched a lot of this game can embiid and can embiid and jokic play against each other on a couple trips down the court I mean

Embiid’s Gordon freaking Aaron Gordon and freaking embiid’s Garden you know Tobias Harris I mean how about going up against each other for crying out loud this is not what NBA centers are all about go ask Russell and Wilt Wilt go out there and guard Hinson and Russell

Guard freaking Luke Jackson I mean Wilt and Kareem had some of the greatest matchups in the history of the NBA and they’re not guarding each other Shaq guarded Robinson Yan guarded Robinson Malone guarded Kareem and I got yic and the beid afraid of each other not ging

They play two games a year and hopefully embiid shows up next week in Denver last year he didn’t hopefully he shows up and plays the game in 10 days but this is ridiculous we got two big players the two best centers in the league and against each other they’re not playing

That’s why people laugh at this nonsense this is not about jokovic and jokic and it should be this should be about the best center and the second best center head tohe head they don’t play against each other one guard somebody else and one guard’s this guy that’s not what

Centers are about in the history of the league oh told me crazy but no fedo is not one NBA championship how’s that Wendy well I know that uh I wasn’t around back in the 50s Mad Dog when you were there with a hot dog in one hand

And a pennant in the other watching Dolph Shays go up against George mikin but I don’t know if we’ve ever seen the the level of skill at the center position like the two of these guys going up against each other and in the modern NBA and the way they modern NBA’s

Played defense this is going up against each other now all Gams played in the finals and I’ll talk about that in a second it’s not impossible I think over a long series you would see them going up against each other but a couple of

Things you I want to keep in mind one it was a second night of a backto back for embiid which he played despite having a sore knee and he obviously cared about because the way he came out in this game he poured it into this game secondly and

B is a shot blocker they want him to be able to be a help Defender so he can come over and defend and the modern defense where there’s switching where there’s helping and stuff there’s a case to be made that that embiid can potentially be more impactful

Defensively if he’s off joic joic is not as much of a shot blocker and is more of a stationary Defender and so it makes more sense for him to try to use his length against embiid’s ability to operate from the top of the key but that

Is the modern game and you know what’s amazing about the modern game dog that right after this game ended you could switch over and watch Fe Phenix play Sacramento and in the fourth quarter of that game Kevin Durant played center against Deon sabonis and Durant had 15

Points in the fourth and some bonus had a triple double and you can see a Mastery of big men in a different way that’s where we are at in a wonderful place in this league right now where we have incredibly sized skilled men doing things the league has never seen before

With all due respect to Mr Russell Mr Chamberlain Mr Abdul Jabar Etc now when it comes to Philadelphia I agree with you that they are not the Boston Celtics and in my mind they’re definitely behind the Celtics the Clippers and the Nuggets those three teams in my view are Cut

Above everybody else but where the where the 76ers are different is they have yet to make their moves Boston’s made their big moves Denver’s made their big moves Clippers have made it the the Daryl mury has three tradable first round draft picks six tradable second round draft picks over 100 million in expiring

Contracts not that I I think that they’ll use all of them that he can go to work with in the next three weeks to add pieces to this team and because Tyrese Maxi has been so good they don’t have to get a star player like James Harden they can get some role players

And then let’s judge where they are come about February 15th as opposed to January 15th doggy let me say this to you there has never been a day where you have been on first take with a particular take that I will defend you more then I will right now with your

Point about guys going directly up against one another in the sport of basketball that’s what makes basketball special and these analytic dudes have kind of ruined all of that because they play a numbers game they play the odds and they say hey this is the decision

That you need to make and they forget the ultimate appealing component that comes with the game of basketball on occasion Wendy and and that is it’s me against you you know I remember when if you recall in the days of Jordan when there were certain people that would get

On his nerves or he would fabricate something just to pretend as if they got on their nerves so he’d go out on the court and Destroy them we’ve heard what he did to Clyde Drexler during Olympic competition because my goodness that was an opportunity not in Olympic

Competition I’m sorry in the finals when they went up against Portland and we saw what Jordan did he was absolutely Herculean we remember when Kobe Bryant got injured and had to wear a mask and the very next week Miami came to town and dwade had to go up against Kobe and

They were guarding one another and going at one another it’s moments like that this year when we I was on podcast P Paul George’s podcaster right and he was talking about how he was gonna play bully Ball even though he was saying it was against everybody him and Devin

Booker were chirping at one another they go up against one another a few weeks ago One Drops 35 the other drops 33 they’re going at one another we live for this we would lament the fact that on occasion when we talked about Kawai and how Kawai could be a stoer and what he

Could do against LeBron vice versa he was guarding LeBron we look forward to that and we wanted LeBron to embrace that match up publicly and he wouldn’t give us the father to really really gravitate to it we want that in the sport of basketball but don’t ever doggy

Blame embiid because embiid chirps he talks and then he go and and this is the Beauty about him be he talks about the people he directly is going to go up against before he goes up against them then goes on the court looking for them to bust their living you know what we’ve

Seen Wendy knows this we’ve seen that from embiid time and time and time again embiid is not the culprit here doggy with what you’re pointing out accurately I might add it’s not him he wants the dudes that you claim to be better than him at his position and then he goes out

On the court and annihilates them remember what he did to Rudy go a few years ago when Rudy go was Defensive Player of the Year Wendy and then be went up against this man this is what I’m talking about that’s basketball that’s what we love to see we understand

Things schematically we understand in in clutch moments you’re going to look for elements that lead to you winning a game but on far too many occasions the coaches the executives the assistants everybody gets in the way of that mono imano moment that we’re looking forward to in a sport of basketball when it’s

The F of the players condemn it but most times it’s not now let me get to the Sixers saying this quickly I don’t believe the Sixers are going to win I pick the Boston Celtics to win at all and I agree with Wendy Denver Clippers Boston Cut Above Philly

But let me say this let’s not act like Philly can’t win it within be looking like this with maxi looking like this and here’s the key Tobias Harris has to show up a loss against Atlanta about four games ago he drops 32 a win against Sacramento about three games ago he

Drops 37 last night he dropped what was it 20 24 20 if that Tobias Harris shows up it changes everything it changes everything because that’s your third option and Tobias Harris is a 17-point per game scorer on 51% shooting this brother can play he just needs to be

Aggressive and embrace that third wheel as an offensive component to the Philadelphia 76ers by the way averaging seven more points per game okay defensive rating is the same Philadelphia’s offense is better their defense has not dis diminished watch out hit the top of the hour yeah they have

The third best odds to win the East we’ll keep it going guys coming up on first take which team has the most pressure to take it all the way Lamar and the Ravens or the ners we debate [Applause] fore [Applause] ch [Applause] spe [Applause] This First Blood hold the an ally has been defeated take It you have been defeated an enemy has been defeated double kill I feel oh literate an ally has been defeated [Applause] ultimate Onslaught double kill Beast CR an ally has been defeated dominating double kill Your team has destroyed a tower an enemy has been defeated legendary double kill a fre W good come you listen to me Legendary double kill triple kill Aast the hunger is real oh line go to hell an ally has been defeated sege legendary double kill aast triple Kill [Applause] victory forbye [Applause] spee [Applause] [Applause] [Applause] oh [Applause] than M Tower is under attack Don’t Nothing can stop me first Blood double kill my loyal subject he my C ultimate double kill you have been defeated an enemy has been defeated has been defeated you have defeated an enemy what that nothing can stop me [Applause] have defeated an enemy double [Applause] kill a [Applause] dominating Onl legendary charge Ultimate double kill double kill your team has destroyed a tower legendary my loyal subject is my call double kill blood B you Lost [Applause] Legendary double kill shut down shall we enter a covenant you will be mine [Applause] Forever Blood [Applause] B show me dominating Beast double [Applause] [Applause] kill you’re right

FIRST TAKE | Joel Embiid outshines Nikola Jokic in NBA MVPs Matchup as 76ers beat Nuggets -Stephen A.