The Philadelphia 7ers-Denver Nuggets contest was one of the highly-anticipated matchups of the NBA Rivals Week. Two of the greatest players – Joel Embiid and Nikola Jokic – in the league were set to go up against each other. However, just minutes before tip-off, the 76ers announced that Embiid would be missing out on the contest. Understandably, fans were not amused with this decision. Hence, the reigning MVP received a lot of criticism from detractors for “ducking” Jokic. Now, Gilbert Arenas has come to JoJo’s defense, clapping back at all of the naysayers.
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Embiid was not featured on the Philadelphia 76ers’ injury report ahead of their fixture against the Denver Nuggets. Thus, the center was expected to suit up. However, just 15 minutes before the game commenced, the Sixers announced that Embiid would be sidelined citing knee soreness.
After the game, Michael Malone seemed to be baffled by Embiid’s absence. Despite the Nuggets grabbing a win, the head coach wanted the league to investigate the last-minute decision of leaving Embiid out.
“I don’t know how you go from being active, available, to out. I’m sure the league will do their due diligence. Because that’s frowned upon. And we’ve had situations this year where we’ve talked to the league, and they told us if a player goes from active to out, there’s going to be an investigation,” Malone said during the postgame conference.
Joining Malone are several other fans who seem to be disappointed after not being treated to a matchup between the top two front runners for the MVP trophy. However, naysayers took it a step ahead by claiming that Embiid was “ducking” the Joker.
Clapping back at this group, Gilbert Arenas stood up for the Philly star. During an episode of Gil’s Arena, Agent Zero shed light on Embiid’s head-to-head stats against Jokic.
“Is he ducking? What is he ducking? He’s done whooped his (Jokic) a** every time he’s played,” Arenas said.
Arenas is not wrong. In the eight matchups between Nikola Jokic and Joel Embiid, the latter has been far more successful. Not just helping his side win more games (6-2), but JoJo has even recorded more points (27.6-22.3), rebounds (11.3-10.1), blocks (2-1.1), and steals (1.3-1.1) than his fellow international star.
Joel Embiid hasn’t played in Denver since 2019
Despite Joel Embiid having a winning record against Nikola Jokic, it is worth noting that the former hasn’t participated in a single game since 8th November 2019. Among all players to play at least one game this season, Embiid has gone the longest since playing in Colorado.
While this fact justifies the claims about Joel “ducking” Jokic, Kenyon Martin believes that Embiid is avoiding the high altitude of Denver. Martin even explained the difficulties of playing 5,280 feet above sea level.
“He ain’t ducking f**king Nikola, he ducking that altitude… Mouth extra dry or watery, it’s going to be one of the two. Your mouth, you ain’t going to be having no control over… That sh*t brutal, bro,” Martin said.
Breathing difficulties are a major issue that several players have faced when playing in Denver. However, Embiid’s absence had nothing to do with the altitude or the fact that he was “ducking” Jokic. As revealed by an NBA insider, JoJo was so terribly injured that he couldn’t even jump during warmup. Ramona Shelburne revealed some interesting details:
“He went out and warmed up, he can’t even jump… It was not even his choice… He wanted to play.”
To be honest, this injury does seem pretty severe. During tonight’s clash between the Philadelphia 76ers and the Portland Trail Blazers, The Process will be sidelined, yet again. So far, he’s been having a terrific season, averaging 36 points, 11.4 rebounds, and 5.8 assists per game. Fans of the Sixers franchise will hope that the injury is not serious enough to cause their best player to miss out on multiple more games.
