76ers’ Paul Reed Lands Major Props From Nuggets’ Nikola Jokic

Paul Reed was praised by Nikola Jokic on Saturday.

The second and final showdown of MVP bigs Joel Embiid and Nikola Jokic was scheduled to take place on Saturday night in Denver.

Unfortunately, the matchup was scrapped as the Philadelphia 76ers downgraded Embiid to out, scratching him from the matchup roughly half an hour before tip-off.

According to 76ers head coach Nick Nurse, the team’s medical staff didn’t like the way Embiid moved as he prepared for the game. With Embiid dealing with knee swelling as of late and tweaking it during Thursday’s loss against the Indiana Pacers, the Sixers made the safe call and ruled the big man inactive.

With the 76ers down two centers, Paul Reed got the nod to start and play for over 40 minutes. Although the Sixers came up short against the NBA Champions, it’s safe to say that Paul Reed had a legitimate impact on the game, which nearly resulted in a major upset.

So, as much as the basketball world wants to continue debating the Jokic-Embiid rivalry following the matchup, the Denver superstar believes that Reed’s play, and not Embiid’s absence, should be the talk of the matchup. 

“I think we don’t need to talk about Joel Embiid. Not just because he didn’t play, but because I think Paul Reed played really good for them,” Jokic told reporters on Saturday. “We need to give him credit. He was fighting there, he attacked the glass, he shot the ball really well. I think he needs to deserve, in this moment, more [talk] than Joel.”

In year four, Reed has taken advantage of Embiid’s absences. Now that he’s earned a full-time backup spot behind the MVP-winning center, Reed has been called to the starting lineup for a career-high nine times this season. Through his first three years in the league, he started just two times.

While it would be a tall task for any center in the league to fill the shoes of Embiid, who’s a two-time scoring champion and a three-time MVP finalist, Reed fit the role well on Saturday.

In 42 minutes of action, the veteran attempted 21 shots, finding success on 14 of them, with two threes falling successfully. He scored a career-high 30 points, which marked a game-high for both teams.

Along with his offensive outburst, Reed made it a double-double, as he collected 13 rebounds on the glass. Embiid’s absence was surely notable, but the starting center position wasn’t an issue.

The Sixers put together an admirable performance, but a stalled fourth quarter led to a 111-105 loss. Normally, moral victories aren’t acceptable. However, the Sixers — and specifically Paul Reed — deserve a lot of credit for putting up a fight while missing a handful of key players.