After the marquee Sixers-Nuggets clash, Skip Bayless and Shannon Sharpe argue which of the two – Joel Embiid or Nikola Jokic – is a better player
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Both, Joel Embiid and Nikola Jokic are currently playing some of the best basketball we’ve seen big men produce. Leading their teams to almost identical records, while putting up some unreal stat lines on a daily basis, the Sixers and Nuggets superstars are in a different league of their own when it comes to the MVP race.
For the first time after 2019, NBA enthusiasts got the opportunity to witness JoJo and The Joker got at it against each other. And as expected, the Philly-Denver bout was a pretty well-contested, action-packed duel between the two best centers of the league.
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The Cameroonian big man managed to put up 34 points, 9 rebounds, and 4 assists on a 55/100/90 shooting split. However, it was the Serb who managed to record a 22/13/8 near triple-double grab a huge 4-point win over the Sixers.
“Joel Embiid is more physical, stronger, scarier, bigger than Nikola Jokic”: Skip Bayless
After the contest, “UNDISPUTED” analysts – Skip Bayless and Shannon Sharpe argued over which of the two stars was having a better season. Sharpe selected Nikola Jokic, and gave his explanation:
“I already knew who the better player was – Jok because he’s asked to do more. We have never seen a big man routinely, he routinely leads the break. These are 2 phenomenal talents… Skip they got the same record. Now Jok is doing this without Jamal Murray and without Michael Porter Jr.
Jok is 26/14/8, Joel Embiid is 30/11/4. Jok is shooting 57% from the floor, Joel Embiid is shooting 48%. There is only one game separating the two. Skip look, I love Joel Embiid, but if I had a choice, imma take Nikola Jokic because offensively there’s nothing that he cannot do. He can get you 30/20/10 or he can get you 30/12/5, he’s asked to do more.
I like matchups when you got two great players, and guess what, they got to guard each other. Ain’t no ‘you go and get him, and I will play this guy’. They had to guard each other. It was a battle, I loved it. All that being said Skip, I would take Jok. I still would take Jok because I think he can do more than Joel Embiid.”
Whereas, Bayless decided to pick Embiid:
“If I had to defend him (Joel Embiid), if I were a rival head coach going into a game he would always scare me a little more than Jokic does because Joel is a force on both ends of the floor. He is more physical than Joker is. He’s just scarier, he’s bigger, he’s stronger, he’s more powerful.”
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