Was Jokic robbed of the MVP?

[Big J]

Denver has consistently had a top 10-15 or better defense in Jokic's career. Team defense can mask lack of individual defense. We watched Embiid get hunted on defense in game 7 because, like Jokic and basically all big centers, he struggles to defend in space.

Embiid was also hurt. He typically does a better job of staying with guys.

[Duke4life831]

Because the coaches of the teams that he's played against were too dumb to spam pick & roll at him relentlessly. This has already been proven to produce layup lines and uncontested 3's whenever you want them.

So you think that there is something so obvious that the talking point has been beaten to death on message boards and Twitter. But multiple NBA HCs and players are too dumb to realize to try it out in the playoffs where their jobs (at least for the HCs) are on the line?

Hell why wait for the playoffs, why isnt this the go to gameplan for every team when they face the Nuggets?

Lots of head coaches are too stubborn to change their strategy based on matchups. It happens a lot.

But we arent talking about some massive scheme adjustment though. Every team practices and runs the PnR, just to different percentages. I just have a very hard time believing that Monty Williams had this super easy option that wouldve exposed Jokic and the Nuggets defense. But he just chose not to go with it. I also have a hard time believing Booker and KD wouldnt just run it on their own and spam it. Because its not like every possession they're running sets called by the coach.

Maybe just maybe its not as easy as you think it is to expose Jokic. Maybe GS was able to do it last year because they had junk guards who couldnt fight through screens and had the perfect player and cast to do that. Its a little different when you have guards like KCP, Bruce Brown, Christian Braun fighting over screens and helping, vs Bones Hyland, Rivers, and Will Barton trying to defend a Curry PnR with Klay, Poole, and Wiggins all shooting 40+% from 3 in that series.

[CobraCommander]

Yes ?

[wraith985]

It's a regular season award. It's a regular season award. It's a regular season award. It's a regular season award. It's a regular season award. It's a regular season award. It's a regular season award. It's a regular season award. It's a regular season award. It's a regular season award.

How many times does it need to be said? Literally nothing that's happened over the last month has any bearing on that voting whatsoever.

I would have picked Jokic personally, but Embiid is a defensible choice too because he had a MONSTER regular season. Nobody got 'robbed' of anything.

[AleksandarN]

Read on Twitter

[B_Creamy]

Highway robbery

[Gusto1903]

It's a regular season award. It's a regular season award. It's a regular season award. It's a regular season award. It's a regular season award. It's a regular season award. It's a regular season award. It's a regular season award. It's a regular season award. It's a regular season award.

How many times does it need to be said? Literally nothing that's happened over the last month has any bearing on that voting whatsoever.

I would have picked Jokic personally, but Embiid is a defensible choice too because he had a MONSTER regular season. Nobody got 'robbed' of anything.

Jokic' regular season was still better than Embiids.

[DarkAzcura]

It's a regular season award. It's a regular season award. It's a regular season award. It's a regular season award. It's a regular season award. It's a regular season award. It's a regular season award. It's a regular season award. It's a regular season award. It's a regular season award.

How many times does it need to be said? Literally nothing that's happened over the last month has any bearing on that voting whatsoever.

I would have picked Jokic personally, but Embiid is a defensible choice too because he had a MONSTER regular season. Nobody got 'robbed' of anything.

That’s cool and all, but several voters didn’t pick Jokic because they didn’t feel comfortable giving it to a player three times in a row with limited playoff success.

If regular season was what purely mattered, Jokic was easily still better. The historical context behind 3 in a row for a non-champion was significant. Heck isn’t that how Philly basically campaigned against him?

So if voters can hold previous years’ playoff runs against Jokic (which was dumb but it definitely happened) then the last month can certainly be used to do the opposite.

[Young gun 6]

Winners:
Advanced stats
Zach Lowe
Bill Simmons
Pro-Jokic Fans

Losers:
Embiid stans
Joker haters
"Advanced stats are for nerds" crowd.
Non Denver watchers.


It's been a hellava 3 year period for us and a nice big **** you to the Embiid stans and those of you who so evidently never watched this once in a lifetime player.

Egg meet face, apologies accepted.

[Statlanta]

Why hasnt that happened in these playoffs so far? Youd think with such a glaring issue for the Nuggets teams would be taking advantage of it and Denver would have a horrific defense in these playoffs so far

Because the coaches of the teams that he's played against were too dumb to spam pick & roll at him relentlessly. This has already been proven to produce layup lines and uncontested 3's whenever you want them.

So you think that there is something so obvious that the talking point has been beaten to death on message boards and Twitter. But multiple NBA HCs and players are too dumb to realize to try it out in the playoffs where their jobs (at least for the HCs) are on the line?

Hell why wait for the playoffs, why isnt this the go to gameplan for every team when they face the Nuggets?

The one postseason he doesn’t play a HOF level guard(the privilege Embiid has his whole career) he is in the Finals. There is some truth to this after being eliminated by Paul, Lillard and Curry then suddenly going against Conley, Cameron Payne and Russell.

[DarkAzcura]

Winners:
Advanced stats
Zach Lowe
Bill Simmons
Pro-Jokic Fans

Losers:
Embiid stans
Joker haters
"Advanced stats are for nerds" crowd.
Non Denver watchers.


It's been a hellava 3 year period for us and a nice big **** you to the Embiid stans and those of you who so evidently never watched this once in a lifetime player.

Egg meet face, apologies accepted.

Unfortunately Simmons voted for Embiid because of the reasons I made in my last post. He’s definitely a big Jokic guy and probably didn’t feel great about it, though. That’s my point, though, a lot of people felt pressured to vote a certain way to fit a narrative. It’s dumb.

[LakersLegacy]

Joker said he doesn’t care about MVPs anymore. He wants the Finals MVP.

[LakersLegacy]

Because the coaches of the teams that he's played against were too dumb to spam pick & roll at him relentlessly. This has already been proven to produce layup lines and uncontested 3's whenever you want them.

So you think that there is something so obvious that the talking point has been beaten to death on message boards and Twitter. But multiple NBA HCs and players are too dumb to realize to try it out in the playoffs where their jobs (at least for the HCs) are on the line?

Hell why wait for the playoffs, why isnt this the go to gameplan for every team when they face the Nuggets?

The one postseason he doesn’t play a HOF level guard(the privilege Embiid has his whole career) he is in the Finals. There is some truth to this after being eliminated by Paul, Lillard and Curry then suddenly going against Conley, Cameron Payne and Russell.

That’s a great point. They didn’t have Murray due to injury though. And he has grown a lot. He used to chuck more. He really did a damn good Shaq and Kobe impression at times on several pick and roles, but instead of Shaq, Joker is so Hakeem. It’s brilliant basketball to watch. I think they have that type of duo + 2 athletic genetic lottery winners in AG + Porter that can shoot 3s and dunk. Try to defend. It’s a team of giants. Tallest team of all time right? They seem bigger than the 2020 Lakers. And that team was huge.

The Nuggets have a 2011 Mavs kind of feeling. Or a 94 Rockets. It seems like it’s their year. It’s Jokic’s time like the 2021 Bucks. Joker sweeps King in the NBA.

[NBA4Lyfe]

Winners:
Advanced stats
Zach Lowe
Bill Simmons
Pro-Jokic Fans

Losers:
Embiid stans
Joker haters
"Advanced stats are for nerds" crowd.
Non Denver watchers.


It's been a hellava 3 year period for us and a nice big **** you to the Embiid stans and those of you who so evidently never watched this once in a lifetime player.

Egg meet face, apologies accepted.

those advanced didnt seem to matter when it came to james harden having a better season than jrue holiday and deaaron fox

[WestGOAT]

Because the coaches of the teams that he's played against were too dumb to spam pick & roll at him relentlessly. This has already been proven to produce layup lines and uncontested 3's whenever you want them.

So you think that there is something so obvious that the talking point has been beaten to death on message boards and Twitter. But multiple NBA HCs and players are too dumb to realize to try it out in the playoffs where their jobs (at least for the HCs) are on the line?

Hell why wait for the playoffs, why isnt this the go to gameplan for every team when they face the Nuggets?

The one postseason he doesn’t play a HOF level guard(the privilege Embiid has his whole career) he is in the Finals. There is some truth to this after being eliminated by Paul, Lillard and Curry then suddenly going against Conley, Cameron Payne and Russell.

Booker?

[Gusto1903]

So you think that there is something so obvious that the talking point has been beaten to death on message boards and Twitter. But multiple NBA HCs and players are too dumb to realize to try it out in the playoffs where their jobs (at least for the HCs) are on the line?

Hell why wait for the playoffs, why isnt this the go to gameplan for every team when they face the Nuggets?

The one postseason he doesn’t play a HOF level guard(the privilege Embiid has his whole career) he is in the Finals. There is some truth to this after being eliminated by Paul, Lillard and Curry then suddenly going against Conley, Cameron Payne and Russell.

Booker?

Also Ant

[NO-KG-AI]

Stats aren't everything, but when you see guys with like above +20 in on-off and they are the #1 seed and basically averaging a triple double, you know them not getting MVP is one of two things:

1) Another guy is doing basically the same thing (not the case at all this season lol)

2) Narrative driven

Joel Embiid got the "He doesn't have an MVP, we need to give him one" and a bunch of bitter haters mad that their favorite player doesn't have 3 straight MVPs

[eyeatoma]

Embiid had an MVP season, but he can't touch Joker and the level he brings when he gets to the playoffs. Embiid has been good in the playoffs, and his defence has always been elite, but Jokic who is already incredible in the regular season, becomes basically the best player in the world again in the post season. As much as I love Embiid, I have to tip my cap to Jokic. What he has done this year, and during the playoffs in general is pretty incredible. This season he was awe inspiring. I still think Murray plays a significant role on this team, and without him they wouldn't be where they are. But Jokic is the heart of the star that powers the Nuggets offence, and he really is transcendent in that regard. IMO Embiid is the best two way player, better than Giannis, as he can get to a higher level on defense and offense, but that is strictly in the regular season. Embiid could be the better player in the post season if he could replicate his offense form the regular season in the post season that goes along with his post season DPOY level defense. But he still hasn't been able to, so it goes to Jokic.

To end, was Jokic robbed, I don't think so, as others have said it's a regular season award, but without a doubt Jokic has been the best in the post season so far, with Jimmy in 2nd.

[Zugzwang13]

Embiid shouldn't be in the same sentense with Joker any more.

Mark Jackson and Perkins need to be banned from media oportunities.

P.S. If Joker takes the ring i think somebody needs to hire a close mental supervision for Embiid to make sure he won't harm himself.

[tribulations]

Maybe but who cares. Jokic is showing, without a doubt, who the better player actually is.

Agree but also feel like he deserved a three-peat MVP to really underscore how good he is/has been.

Joel had a great year, but honestly imo Joker's reg season was equally if not more MVP-worthy and the post season - while hindsight in nature - backs it up.

Reminds me of when Karl Malone got MVP instead of MJ (although at least Karl's team won his conference)