PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Joel Embiid said this year’s MVP honor “could have gone either way,” addressing the presumed rumor that he was snubbed again by Nikola Jokić for the award.
After the 76ers’ terrible 120-85 Game 5 loss to the Miami Heat, Embiid congratulated Denver’s Jokić, explaining that “there is no right or wrong.”
“There were a lot of candidates,” he said. “I don’t know what else I had to do to win it.”
The MVP news leaked earlier this week, but Embiid said he’s known for some time that he was going to finish behind Jokić in the voting once again.
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In fact, Embiid seemed more agitated Monday night by a podcast snippet from sports commentator Bill Simmons of “The Ringer.” Embiid was bothered by what Simmons said about Houston Rockets rookie Jalen Green, in terms of media members who vote for these awards.
“I heard on the podcast Bill Simmons basically say … ‘F Jalen Green,’ so if we’re gonna allow these type of people to vote these awards, that’s not fair,” said Embiid. “What if Jalen Green was in a position to earn a supermax [contract] or an All-Star appearance, and you got someone sounding like that. And [Simmons] has a lot of power. He can sway a lot of other media members and you got someone saying those type of stuff. … I don’t think it’s OK.”
Embiid addresses Simmons at the 43:05 mark below:
Embiid added he’s not mad for losing to Jokić, but “two years in a row, I put myself in that position [to win]. It didn’t happen. At this point, it’s whatever. Whatever happens, happens.”
It’s time to put all his energy into the bigger picture, he noted, which is winning the whole thing. But to do that, they have to avoid elimination by winning Game 6 on Thursday, thus forcing a decisive Game 7 on Sunday, and then finally figuring out how to win in Miami.
The Sixers haven’t won a second-round Game 5 since May 16, 2001, when Allen Iverson dropped 52 points to beat the Toronto Raptors — the night he hoisted his MVP trophy at then First Union Center in South Philadelphia. The season was the last time the Sixers made it to the Eastern Conference finals. They have lost six round-two Game 5’s in a row and dropped each of those series.
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Embiid is clearly playing through discomfort, whether it’s his orbital fracture, injured thumb or the apparent lower back pain he was experiencing in Game 5, where he hunched over after trying to save a ball from going into the stands. He also took a basketball to the face in the second quarter trying to grab a rebound from Miami’s Dewayne Dedmon. Embiid was on the ground in pain, but he played through it.
“This is a lose-lose situation for me,” Embiid said of playing through his injuries. “If I don’t play, [I] probably get called soft. If I play and play bad, [critics] probably come up with a bunch of stuff that I guess he’s just not good enough.”
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But no one is saying Embiid isn’t good enough. If anything, Sixers icon Charles Barkley believes Embiid was distracted from losing MVP, and that trickled down to the rest of the team.
Barkley didn’t think Embiid had the necessary focus Monday night. Regardless, he still didn’t play well — no Sixer did. Head coach Doc Rivers probably could have coached better. Everyone with a hand on that mess could have performed at a higher level.
They just need to figure out how to do so in Game 6.