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Joel Embiid is having a monster season and is looking to lead his Philadelphia 76ers (49-26) into a deep run in the NBA playoffs by continuing to rack up stellar performances. He is averaging of 33.3 points on 54.5% shooting, 10.2 rebounds and 4.2 assists.
As per Shams Charania for The Athletic, Joel Embiid was confused as to why he is considered to be under pressure when there are NBA players with MVP awards who have not won anything either.
During an ESPN First Take with JJ Redick and Jay Williams, Redick had this to say on Joel Embiid's comments regarding the pressure to win:
"Jay, I wanna point out something you said that is so true...and that is pressure is inherent. And when you're a star player, and when you're a franchise player, and when you're in the MVP conversationor you're an All-NBA player...yeah the pressure is there. It's always there. I actually agree with what he's saying here. He's not wrong, and Joel's a smart guy. He is trolling all of us." Redick said.
JJ Redick followed up on this by mentioning other examples of All-Stars who are also under pressure this season.
Redick added:
"There's two suggestions I wanna make. Number one, he brings up Jokic. Absolutely, there should be pressure on him, given that he's won two MVPs. Look, there should be pressure in Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown right now...because of what they did last season.
The question 'Is Jayson Tatum one of the guys that can be the best player on the best team?', there's five of those right now active in the NBA. There should be more pressure on Luka...he should be talked about more.
And obviously the Mavs have not done a good job building around him, but we give him a ton of praise. He hasn't won yet, he's been All-NBA...you know...four straight seasons," Redick said.
There is definitely pressure on Joel Embiid and the 76ers to finally get over the second-round hump that has plagued the team for three seasons during Embiid's time with the franchise. JJ Redick had this to say on the matter:
"When we talk about the pressure...I don't think the pressure is on Joel Embiid necessarily," Redick said. The pressure is on the organization. The pressure is on Joel, it's on James Harden, it's on Doc Rivers, it's on Daryl Morey...that to me is the pressure/"
Joel Embiid's comments on the MVP race
Joel Embiid had some interesting insights when it came to the NBA MVP race. He said this in response to what Giannis Antetokounmpo said regarding the ever-changing criteria for the MVP:
"I don’t care, but every year it’s something. And when you add analytics into it, which don’t make sense. You can talk about analytics all you want. When you got some guys in the league, the eye test tells you that they’re not good defensively, but analytics tell you they’re the best defenders. That’s when analytics don’t make sense at all. I don’t make the rules, I don’t choose whatever criteria that they use, so it’s really about whatever people’s preferences are," Embiid said.
The supposed head-to-head match-up between Joel Embiid and Nikola Jokic fizzled out as the 76ers center was not available to suit up due to a calf injury in the game against the Denver Nuggets.
With only 7 games remaining in the regular season for Joel Embiid's Philadelphia 76ers, it will be interesting to see how the MVP Race develops in the coming days, along with how the All-Star center and his team perform in the NBA Playoffs.
Guess the Lakers players!
