Joel Embiid comes out on top of MVP clash with Jokic in 76ers win vs. Nuggets

Joel Embiid won in Wednesday’s battle of the MVPs.

A day after scoring 41 on the Houston Rockets as he returned from injury, Joel Embiid followed it up with another 41-point scoring masterclass — this time, against the reigning champion Denver Nuggets and Nikola Jokic.

In a titanic clash of NBA heavyweights, the 76ers leaned on their MVP to pull out a strong 126-121 win at home.

Embiid came through with yet another dominant outing, finishing with 41 points, 10 rebounds, and seven assists. His Serbian counterpart wasn’t too shabby either, with Jokic putting up a tough 25-point, 19-rebound outing.

Joel Embiid and Nikola Jokic with another great battle tonight 👏

Embiid: 41 PTS, 7 REB, 10 AST
Jokic: 25 PTS, 19 REB pic.twitter.com/R8vmhw2zJr
— NBA (@NBA) January 17, 2024

Led by their star centers, the 76ers and the Nuggets fought fiercely, but a telling fourth-quarter stretch turned the tied in favor of Philadelphia.

Embiid hit a booming three over Jokic with 4:53 to go, then hit a mid-range jumper over Aaron Gordon some thirty seconds later for a personal 10-0 run, breaking a 113-all tie. That was essentially the game.

With the win, Philadelphia improved to 25-13, no. 3 in the East. Denver dropped to 28-14 for third in the West.

What he said

Having two dominant MVP bigs was a special moment, and Embiid made sure it was all love when he had a few seconds with Jokic after the game.

“I just told him he’s the best player in the league,” said Embiid in his post-game interview. “He won a championship, that’s the best team in the league, and he’s the Finals MVP. I just told him, keep going, see you in two weeks.”

“I just told him he’s the best player in the league… He won a championship, that’s the best team in the league, and he’s the Finals MVP. I just told him keep going, see you in 2 weeks.”

Joel Embiid on what he said to Nikola Jokic 🗣pic.twitter.com/3GQybtBwzq https://t.co/34blQLZjDo
— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) January 17, 2024

The amount of respect between these two juggernauts is to be expected as both dominated the MVP conversations with Jokic winning two straight MVP awards in 2021 and 2022, before Embiid won it last season.

Joel Embiid comes out on top of MVP clash with Jokic in 76ers win vs. Nuggets

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