JJ Redick Reacts to the Joel Embiid vs. Nikola Jokic Match-up

JJ Redick Reacts to the Joel Embiid vs. Nikola Jokic Match-up

I do want to do our draftking sports book segment and I want to talk about the Denver Nuggets and the Philadelphia 76ers game the matchup using quotes here the matchup between nicolea yic and Joel embiid and the reason I of course put in uh the quotes here is because they

Didn’t really guard each other a lot right they were crossmatched the whole game uh I thought both teams in the first half were so [ __ ] confused by the cross matches one of the worst defensive halves I’ve seen from any team All Season like and these are two of the

Best teams in the league bad defense bad bad defense so many uh Denver specifically uh some really questionable schemes to start the game like joic in a drop but returning to embiid and letting Maxi turn the corner every single time they’re forcing a middle on every pick and roll they eventually made the

Adjustment and iced it or down it down to towards the Baseline in the second half Maxi would throw back to embiid you get his elbow ISO right right he’s still in his sweet spot I think what’s interesting as I’m watching this game is like so joic has the Cross Match uh with

Tobias Harris to start the game and and be just kind of a a Rover off of Aon Gordon and it took like three possessions and yic figured it out right it’s it’s these guys are too good these guys are too good I I would have liked

To have seen and maybe we’ll see it next Saturday the game I’m calling I would have liked to see them match up more uh I think joic was like one for five against Joel embiid last night or something like that and embiid was 5 for

Seven against joic um I I am I am at the point now with Joel embiid where I’m just gonna say it say it he’s [ __ ] Unstoppable he’s Unstoppable he’s too good of a shooter like he’s obviously got footwork he drives he gets the free throw line

He’s too good of a shooter what’s crazy I heard this before the Rockets game so this was Rockets game was what Monday yeah he played I heard this on Sunday he hadn’t even when he was out he barely picked up a ball people around him like

He barely pied up the ball he just is that good he’s that gifted he just literally just walks on the court and dominates the defending Champions and another team which is one of the best defenses in the league one of the best teams in the Western Conference I had

One funny stat I don’t know if you saw this last night which is just weird that I wanted to bring up which doesn’t really mean anything but basketball reference said six time in NBA history both teams have scored 78 plus points in the first half every one of them has

Been nuggets and Sixers that is the which is just like that is the weirdest thing and I guarantee you some of those games or I would venture to say a at least a few of those games were in the 80s with those nuggets teams that averaged 140 points a game or whatever

It was um that is a bizarre stat I want to go through these embiid shooting stats because I I’m fascinated by it second in the league in mid-range ISO possessions uh and he’s second in the league in points per direct chance in ISO possessions he leads the league in

ISO shots in the mid-range uh he’s fourth overall in mid-range jumpers attempted and he’s one of three guys right now in the league to shoot uh 50% or better from mid-range he’s 30d he’s at 52% uh Shay’s at 57 Chris Middleton actually is at 58 having a nice season

Joel and beid has taken 106 Wonder dble pull-ups I would venture to say 105 of those have been uh with his left hand in the mid-range 52.8% leads the league has taken 146 two dribble pull-ups in the mid-range 52.7% that’s second in the league you watch the tape now you watch how these

Teams are guarding him there’s such an intention to keep their hands back to keep their hands out of the cookie jar Aaron Gordon last night in the first half he he had his hand out there Joel he times it perfectly he’s too smart and he’s too skilled he still makes the shot

He got his hands up Gordon got a piece of it still made the shot Joel wanted a foul late in the fourth quarter he gets into his jab game he comes all the way up essentially from the ground Gordon puts his hand out foul still made the shot it’s unguardable you watch shenon

The other night he Joel’s got the ball in his left hand and shenon is literally like intentionally hands back I’m not fouling this [ __ ] I’m not putting my hand in the cookie jar he’s too smart he times it so perfectly when you do it and he still makes the shot

Can you describe you have you played with Joel for two years you’re very friendly with him you know intimately how he but like how much better is he now even than then and then I remember then you even said like this guy is you

Said if he wants to be this guy is the best player in the world you said that the second you started playing with him so it was like even then there was a possibility of this but this wasn’t the case in those two years I remember in my free agency meeting with

The Philadelphia 76ers I show up uh in Camden New Jersey at The Practice Facility drove down from New York that night Billy Lang came over picked me up we show up right after midnight going to the facility Joelle is there I’ve told the story a million times we’re I got a

Sport cat on we’re like walking through Twan action on the left side of the court right and we’re back in uh we’re back in Brian colangelo’s office and Brett’s in there the owners everybody Joel’s in there and Brett Brown said uh you know I was in s s an a long time and

I played with one of the greatest players ever or you know I coached one of the greatest players ever and we won a lot and that was Tim Duncan and he said this [ __ ] is Tim Duncan I said after my first year I was like that’s the best guy I’ve ever

Played with Joel ID is the best player I’ve ever played with you’re like no Joel beid is the best player and I I said that after like essentially his second year of playing in the NBA coming from you means a lot and coming from Brown about Duncan means a lot so okay

So the to the Unstoppable question I got to get the odds tie game 111 111 Joe comes in scores 11 the next 15 points 10 straight 12 two run game’s over when they play again even for other teams if it’s 111 111 and with three minutes up

In the fourth quarter and you know he’s there what do you do like what’s the like you you know this is coming he’s you they they started doing this a lot more with Doc Rivers uh they just give him the ball at the elbow you it’s really hard to double

From that position on the floor and the thing that Joel has really grown as and it’s not just this year I know the the numbers are up he has grown over the last few seasons as a passer a more willing passer I mean there are times last night you’re watching and he’s got

The ball in his hands they know he knows they’re going to double and he just Waits and waits okay swing it maxi3 swing it open Harris three whatever it is that’s what makes him unguardable now is that he he thinks the game as well as anyone yeah he thinks the game as well

As anyone I got one last stat uh so only six players have averaged 35 points in a season in the NBA James Harden and 2018 2019 Kobe in 056 MJ did it twice 86 87 8788 uh Rick Barry in 6667 elen Baylor in 6162 and Wilt did it for the first 5

Years of his career if you go by like per 75 per 100 obviously we don’t have numbers for that on basketball reference uh back in the 60s I we don’t have those numbers till 7374 but uh embiid in terms of per possession uh number one uh only one player ever has averaged

351 and five for an NBA season that was Wilt in 6364 and here’s what I want to point out with how crazy Joel embiid’s production is this season that’s season Wilt averaged 46 minutes per game Joel is averaging 34 minutes a game we don’t have possession numbers

But we can use some logic and deduce that there were May way more possessions back then in 6364 the average team in the NBA took 99 field goal attempts and 35 free throws 99 field goal attempts and 35 free throws this year teams on average shoot 89 field goal attempts and 23 free

Throws the production and efficiency that Joel is having right now is nuts is all time it’s all time yeah it’s all time and one more shout out real quick Tobias Harris yeah I was GNA say my guy plus 13 my guy just balling out this year the perfect third option I’ll say

It I’ll keep saying this through the deadline they don’t need another star they don’t need another star star Maxi is a star Joelle is a star Tobias is a great third option do they need do they need a a defensive Wing give me Caruso that’s what yeah someone who plays D

Someone who plays D like you know because you know what you have in Boston yeah so it’s like that’s what you have to here’s here’s here’s something crazy so I want to go through this real quick opening odds for a championship both these teams championship aspirations Denver opened the season at plus 600

Philly at plus 1100 right now the nuggets at plus 450 and the 76ers at plus 1100 I like that bid on the 76ers and the other crazy thing is opening MVP odds Joel embiid plus 600 joic at plus 475 on draftking sports book right now Nicole yic after last night at plus 250

And Joel at plus 330 they got to be factoring in the games played the new 65 G he misses eight more is that what it is something like that it’s wild were you thinking last night no disrespect respect to our friends in Boston no respect to Dam and Yannis we thinking

Last night this would be a fun finals matchup that was a thought by the third quarter you’re like I could get talked into like four or five really awesome and perfect for the league and perfect for fans and perfect for the basketball SOS I could get talked into four or five

Matchups that would be awesome yeah I guess it’s it’s a little bit like recency biased it’s like you watch one of those games you’re like oh that that’s that’s one of them and then Boston plays them and you’re like it’s the same thing I just you know it I’ll

Put some B in there [ __ ] it I root for my friends yeah I do I don’t analyze them any differently I don’t but I root for them I like when Drew and Chris were playing back in 21 now I just you know I was finished my last season I was like

Torn I was torn I was like who do I want to win the finals someone’s going to be happy and someone’s the vibe in Philly you know we’re going to do more stuff with some of those guys later on like the Vive and Philly is really good it is

Really really good they just they they’ve figured it out

In this clip, JJ Redick talks about the match-up between Joel Embiid (The Philadelphia 76ers) and Nikola Jokic (The Denver Nuggets).

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