LOS ANGELES – Philadelphia big man Joel Embiid outduelled two-time National Basketball Association Most Valuable Player Nikola Jokic on Saturday, pouring in 47 points to lead the 76ers to a 126-119 victory over the Denver Nuggets.
Embiid, who finished runner-up to Jokic in MVP voting the past two seasons, also grabbed 18 rebounds to help the Sixers erase a 15-point half-time deficit on the way to a seventh straight victory.
The Cameroonian told ESPN that this is the deepest and strongest team he has had around him in his seven seasons at the franchise.
He said: “I think so. You’ve got James Harden, obviously he’s been playing great basketball.
“You’ve got Tyrese Maxey, Tobias (Harris) has been great, P.J. Tucker... we’ve got a group that fits with each other.
“We’ll find that out (for sure) in the post-season. But I think as far as the fit, you’ve got everything.
“Everybody fits with each other, we’ve got shooters, we’ve got defenders and we’ve got James Harden.
“So I think we’ve got a good chance.”
Embiid, who also missed out on selection as an All-Star Game starter last week, insisted the clash was not about a personal rivalry with Jokic, but about the 76ers testing themselves against the Western Conference’s top team.
“It’s not a rivalry,” he told broadcaster ABC.
“I love the big fella, man. Two-time MVP, one of the best players in the league. I’m a big fan.
“(We) just wanted to come out here (against) the best team in the West, see where we’re at.
“I think we’ve got a chance.”
Jokic was similarly respectful of Embiid, telling the Denver Post: “He’s really talented. Really shifty.”
The 76ers improved to 32-16, two games behind the league-leading Boston Celtics atop the Eastern Conference.
At 34-16, the Nuggets are 2½ games ahead of the Memphis Grizzlies atop the West.
Said Nuggets coach Michael Malone: “We turned it over and they just turned up the pressure on us.
“They got to the basket way too easy with their attack mentality. And we just got way too careless with the basketball.”
Embiid was everywhere in the second half, his step-back jumper tying the score at 110-110 with 5min 48sec remaining.
After his block on Jamal Murray, he scored on the fast break to put the 76ers up for good, and he drained a step-back three-pointer over Jokic that pushed Philadelphia’s lead to 125-117 with 30.1 seconds to play.
Harden added 17 points and 13 assists while Harris and Georges Niang added 14 points apiece for Philadelphia.
“There’s a reason we’ve won 20 out of the last 24 games,” Embiid said. “We’re just doing it as a team.
“They trust me, I trust them and we’re just making plays for each other.”
Jokic led the Nuggets with 24 points, eight rebounds and nine assists.
Murray added 22 points, but after building their big lead Denver could not match Philadelphia’s energy in the third quarter and Embiid seized upon the opening.
Said 76ers coach Doc Rivers on Jokic: “It just felt like at half-time we weren’t up into (Jokic).
“He was catching it where he wanted to catch it... he’s such a focal point of their offence that if (Tucker) can get up under him, catch it at the three-point line, now those hand-offs, you can go under, they don’t matter any more.
“Where in the first half he caught everything at the elbows and low.”
Meanwhile, Brooklyn Nets coach Jacque Vaughn said that “generational” rivalry made his team’s cross-town rivalry with the New York Knicks look puny – an impression that only increased when the Nets notched a ninth straight win over the Knicks, 122-115.
With superstar Kevin Durant and teammate Ben Simmons sidelined by injury, Kyrie Irving scored 32 points, coming alive with 21 fourth-quarter points as the Nets held on, even after the Knicks – who trailed by as many as 19 – cut the deficit to three points with 3:07 to play.
Irving posted his sixth straight game of 30 or more points. AFP
