Two months of waiting! What surprised Joel Embiid, who was deprived of the MVP after a long absence
Artemy Berstenev April 3, 2024, 06:30 Moscow time Audio version: Your browser does not support the audio element.
However, there is a nuance: the centre-back’s rival was left without its best player.
Philadelphia 76ers center Joel Embiid has officially been out of the MVP race for two months, 64 days to be exact. That is exactly the number of days that Philadelphia played games without its star leader, where during this period Nick Nurse’s charges only had 12 wins and 18 losses. Of note, without Embiid, the Sixers fell from fifth place in the Eastern Conference to eighth. Today, April 3, Joel returned to action and helped his team achieve an important victory against the Oklahoma City Thunder, who were left without their main leader in the person of point guard Shay Gilgeous-Alexander.
NBA – regular season
April 3, 2024, Wednesday. 02:30 Moscow time
Philadelphia 76ers
Philadelphia
Oklahoma City Thunder
Oklahoma City
Philadelphia 76ers: Oubre – 25, Embiid – 24, Harris – 18, Reed – 12, Payne – 10, Hield – 7, Batum – 7, Lowry – 4, Martin – 2, Wilson
Oklahoma City Thunder: Holmgren – 22, Dort – 15, Wiggins – 15, Joe – 14, Giddy – 10, Williams – 8, Hayward – 7, Williams – 6, Wallace – 6, Waters III – 2, Biyombo, Muscala
Nick Nurse did not immediately flirt with the star player, allowing him to spend the first four minutes on the court: Embiid offered the fans a miss from behind the arc, then a confident hit from mid-range with the resistance of two opponents. Until the big break, the center scored the most points (12), and in the first 36 minutes of the game, Joel Embiid scored 14 points, seven assists, four rebounds and the same number of turnovers, but Oklahoma was in advantage by seven points. In the final 12 minutes, Embiid scored a solid 10 points, eight of them from the free throw line.
One way or another, it was the free throws that put Philadelphia ahead in the final minute of the game. “He looked pretty good for someone who’s been out for two months,” Sixers head coach Nick Nurse summed up Joel’s performance. Interestingly, before that, the Pennsylvania Club averaged 108.6 points per game without its leader and 121.4 with him. The difference, of course, is significant. The net rating (the difference between the number of points per 100 possessions that the offense scores and the defense fails. – Championship Note) is completely different: “+9.4” with Embiid and “-4.3” without him .
Yes, Joel Embiid definitely won’t win the MVP award, despite impressive individual stats of 35 points, 11.1 rebounds and 5.7 assists, but the updated NBA rules say: “Play at least 65 games, you will receive all the prizes!” Joel played only 35 games, meanwhile, the center will have to take the field six times before the end of the regular season, unless, of course, he is given the so-called “preventive rest.” And this would be extremely undesirable, given that the Sixers are in the play-in zone and the difference with sixth place (Indiana Pacers) is two wins.
The video can be seen on Chaz NBA’s YouTube channel. Video rights belong to NBA MEDIA VENTURES, LLC.
