Philadelphia 76ers center Joel Embiid averaged 33.1 points and 10.2 rebounds in the regular season on his way to being named NBA MVP. Jeff Chiu/Associated Press
Philadelphia 76ers center and league scoring champion Joel Embiid earned his first NBA MVP trophy Tuesday night, edging two-time winner Nikola Jokic of the Denver Nuggets.
The 29-year-old from Yaoundé, Cameroon, averaged 33.1 points to win his second straight scoring title, averaged 10.2 rebounds and tied a career high with 4.2 assists per game. Embiid played in 66 games, the second-highest total of his career, but again has been hit with injuries in the playoffs. Embiid has been sidelined with a sprained right knee that cost him one game of the playoff sweep against Brooklyn and the opening game of the Eastern Conference semifinals against Boston which was won by Philadelphia on Monday night.
Jokic finished runner-up and Giannis Antetokounmpo of the Milwaukee Bucks was third.
“It’s been a long time coming,” Embiid said. “A lot of hard work. I’ve been through a lot. I’m not just talking about basketball. I’m talking about my life. My story. Where I come from. How I got here and what it took for me to be here.”
The 76ers watched on TV in Boston and erupted in applause and started chanting “MVP! MVP! ” as the big man buried his head in his hands as he sat in a chair. Embiid was in tears as teammates James Harden, Tobias Harris and Tyrese Maxey mobbed him in celebration.
Embiid then vowed “I’ll be back” for the playoff series against the Celtics.
But as for Game 2 on Wednesday night?
“We shall see,” Embiid said.
Embiid has been determined to win – and campaigned for – the MVP trophy for years. The third overall pick of the 2014 draft, Embiid missed his first two full seasons with injuries before settling in as one of the top big men of his generation. He was at his best this season when he totaled three 50-point games, including a career-high 59 against Utah in November. He had 13 total 40-point games.
When Embiid totaled 52 points and 13 rebounds in a win against the Celtics in April, Coach Doc Rivers boldly declared, “The MVP race is over.”
Embiid certainly didn’t argue that night with his coach or Sixers teammates who stumped on his behalf.
“They’re probably right,” Embiid said. “But we have bigger goals in mind.”
Embiid’s injury could be the deciding factor in the 76ers’ chase for the NBA championship. The Sixers are trying to win their first NBA title since 1983 and advance past the second round for the first time since 2001 – which was the last time a Sixer won the MVP award.
Allen Iverson was named league MVP in 2001. Other 76ers to capture the league’s top individual award: Julius Erving, 1981; Moses Malone, 1983; and Wilt Chamberlain, 1966-1968.
GRIZZLIES: Memphis has no plans to bring Dillon Brooks back to the team when he hits free agency this summer, a person with knowledge of the situation said.
Brooks was offered an extension last year but turned it down. The Grizzlies have since decided that he won’t be in their future plans, said the person who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because neither the team nor Brooks released details publicly.
The Athletic first reported the Grizzlies’ decision, and it was subsequently confirmed by ESPN.
Brooks just completed a three-year contract that paid him $35 million. He led the NBA with 18 technical fouls this season, earning a pair of one-game suspensions for surpassing the league threshold for technicals.
TUESDAY’S GAME
KNICKS 111, HEAT 105: Jalen Brunson scored 30 points and keyed the run New York needed just in time to get by a Miami team playing without Jimmy Butler, evening the Eastern Conference semifinals at a game apiece with a victory in New York.
Julius Randle returned from a sprained left ankle that sidelined him in Game 1 with 25 points, 12 rebounds and eight assists, and RJ Barrett scored 24 points for the No. 5-seeded Knicks. Josh Hart finished with 14 points, 11 rebounds and nine assists.
But it was Brunson, who pointed the blame at himself and said he had to be better after going 0 for 7 from 3-point range in the opener, who made the biggest plays in a game the Knicks trailed much of the way.
Caleb Martin scored 22 points in place of Butler for the Heat, who host Game 3 on Saturday afternoon. They will hope to have Butler, the leading scorer in the playoffs who sat out after spraining his right ankle late in their 108-101 victory in the opener.
They almost didn’t need him.
Miami had a six-point lead midway through the fourth quarter thanks to undrafted players Martin and Gabe Vincent before Brunson, who had been listed as questionable with a sore right ankle, took over.
He made a 3-pointer that became a four-point play when Isaiah Hartenstein was fouled on the play, and the point guard then scored to knot it at 93.
The Heat went back up 96-93 on Vincent’s three free throws, but Josh Hart tied it with a 3 before Brunson hit a 3 and scored again to make it 101-96 with 2:48 remaining.
Brunson went 6 of 10 behind the arc.
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