2022 NBA MVP odds: Nikola Jokic takes lead from Joel Embiid; Giannis Antetokounmpo needs historic finish starting Thursday vs. Nets
There's a new favorite to win NBA MVP but the Greek Freak is coming on strong.
You can't really statistically quantify when an NBA MVP race changed on one play in an 82-game regular season, but wow did it sure feel like Philadelphia's Joel Embiid, who has been the betting favorite for months, lost the award Tuesday when his potential game-tying layup vs. Milwaukee in the final seconds was swatted away by two-time MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo in one of the plays of the year. Denver's Nikola Jokic is now the -200 favorite (was -140 on Wednesday) at Caesars with Embiid at +145 (was +110).
Is it too late in the season for Giannis to win at odds of +1100? Most likely, unless he is simply super-human down the stretch like he was Tuesday, wins the scoring title for the first time and leads the Bucks to the East's best record. Then there's a very slim chance. The Freak was the best player on the floor Tuesday for sure with 40 points, 14 rebounds, six assists and that stunning rejection – why didn't Embiid try to dunk the ball?
Giannis now has seven straight road games scoring at least 30 points while shooting over 50 percent from the field -- a mark that is tied for the second longest such streak in NBA history. Only Wilt Chamberlain had a longer streak in 1961 at nine games. Wilt was second in the MVP that year.
Antetokounmpo does get another national TV audience Thursday to improve his case as the Bucks visit the Brooklyn Nets in a potential first-round Eastern Conference playoff preview. It's possible the Freak could become the all-time franchise leader in scoring tonight. He has 14,172 points, 40 points away from passing Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (14,211) as the Bucks' leader. Giannis has moved up to second in the league in scoring this year at 29.9 ppg, behind LeBron James (30.1 ppg).
Antetokounmpo and Jokic are the only players in the NBA averaging at least 25 points, 10 rebounds and five assists. No player has ever averaged at least 26 points, 13 rebounds and eight assists in a season, and Jokic is at 26.5 ppg, 13.6 rpg and 8.0 apg. By about any metric you can find, he's been the best player in the NBA this season and better than his MVP-winning 2020-21 campaign. His 19 triple-doubles lead the league.
ESPN held a straw poll with the media before Tuesday's game and Jokic won it pretty easily in receiving 62 of 100 first-place votes with Embiid getting 29 and Giannis nine – again, though, that was before the Freak's freakish effort in Philly.
It doesn't seem likely that any of these three players will get a game off soon because the Nuggets, Sixers and Bucks are all fighting for playoff seeding. The latter two for No. 1 in the East, although Philly appears a fraud, and Denver for perhaps the No. 3 or 4 spot in the West and home-court advantage in the first round of the playoffs.Â
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