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Philadelphia 76ers center Joel Embiid finished second to Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokic in the MVP race for the second year in a row. Detroit Pistons center and former Sixers pick Nerlens Noel questions the people behind the decision to vote for Embiid as runner-up after seeing what the big man has grown over the years .
“I’ve seen year after year that he’s taking great steps because his talent was clearly always there, but he’s just become a leader, isn’t he?” Discussing Joel Embiid before Tuesday night’s matchup, he said, “Beyond the leader. [He’s] Someone who gives all of himself and his body to the team, and you’ve seen it.I don’t understand why he’s not high in the MVP voting. does not indicate that there is not You can see it whenever he’s there. he devotes himself to it. “
Embiid participated in the MVP race for the first time during the 2020-2021 NBA season. Appearing in 51 games, Embiid averaged 29 points, 11 rebounds and 3 assists, knocking down his 51% of his shots and his 38% of his 3-shots.
Embiid was a finalist for this award, but lost to Denver’s Nikola Jokic. At the time, many people cited the year-round availability as the reason why Embiid didn’t bring the hardware home. The next year, Embiid made it a goal to get even healthier.
As a result, Embiid appeared in a career-high 68 games. His center for the Sixers eventually became his NBA leading scorer, averaging 31 points, 12 rebounds per game and 4 assists per game. He achieved a scoring average while hitting 50% of his shots from the field and knocking down 37% of his three-shots.
Again, Embiid had a year of MVP caliber and earned the right to be called a finalist. Unfortunately, being a finalist didn’t make me a winner. It was her second time Embiid lost to Nikola Jokic.
Can you charm the third time? only time will tell. A slower-than-usual start to the season left Embiid out of his MVP ranking early on. At this point, he’s slowly but surely coming back into conversation.
Through 29 games, Embiid averaged a career-high 34 points per game. He also has 10 rebounds while recording 5 assists per game. His 3-pointers His shooting percentage may have dropped to his 34%, but Embiid has achieved his 54% of his shots from the field this season.
It’s unclear what the MVP race will look like when the season hits the home stretch, but Noel hopes Embiid will get better ratings from voters this time around.
Justin Grasso covers the Philadelphia 76ers on All76ers on the Sports Illustrated channel. Follow him on Twitter for updates. @JGrasso_.
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