NBA Champion Addresses Joel Embiid 'Ducking' Nikola Jokic

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When Joel Embiid and Nikola Jokic faced off in Philadelphia last season, the 76ers star won that battle. While both players were dominant, the 76ers defeated the Denver Nuggets, and Embiid outplayed Jokic. That game became somewhat of a talking point for a few weeks, but that noise was silenced by what Jokic did in the postseason, leading Denver to their first championship in franchise history.
During a recent segment of NBA Today, ESPN analyst Richard Jefferson shared a message directly to Joel Embiid about the 76ers star "ducking" a Jokic rematch in Denver.
"It's called the Serbian flu," Jefferson said. "It's been diagnosed, there's lots of variations. It used to be the Shaq flu, it used to be the Kobe flue, it used to be the MJ flu, there's a lot of different flus. Right now it's the Serbia flu. Let me say this - Joel, I do not think that you are ducking Jokic, I just want to make this clear. But from this point on, I will be saying that you are ducking Jokic until you guys play. I'm gonna say you ducked him until you guys do play, because I saw you dominate him in Philly, he didn't get a chance for the backup in Denver, so all I'm going to say is that you're ducking Jokic and I can't wait to see what's about to happen."
While Jefferson made it clear that he doesn't actually believe Embiid is ducking Jokic, that is what he is going to say until the two face off in Denver again.
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Joey Linn is a credentialed writer covering the NBA and WNBA for On SI. Covering the LA Clippers independently in 2018, then for Fansided and 213Hoops from 2019-2021, Joey joined On SI to cover the Clippers after the 2020-21 season. Graduating from Biola University in 2022 with a Communication Studies degree, Joey served as Biola's play-by-play announcer for their basketball, baseball, softball, and soccer teams. Joey's work on Biola's broadcasts and in the classroom earned him the Outstanding Communication Studies Student of the year award in 2022. Joey covers the NBA full-time, primarily serving as a Clippers beat writer.