Kendrick Perkins: Joel Embiid is 'Ducking That Smoke' By Missing Matchup With Nikola Jokic

data-mm-id=”_w52daksx2″>Monday night was supposed to serve as one final referendum on the NBA MVP race with the Philadelphia 76ers stopping off in Denver to take on the Nuggets. We were supposed to get Joel Embiid v. Nikola Jokic and learn all sorts about both players in the process. The MVP is a season-long award but people have short memories and whoever played better Monday night would could have ended up the winner. Embiid, for his part, seemed to recognize that and decided to speak his mind to Shams Charania in an interview that dropped on Monday morning. Embiid insisted he did not care about winning MVP before complaining about why he hasn't won it before and took a handful of thinly-veiled shots at Jokic. Here are a few highlights: Joel Embiid:“I’m not a two-time MVP. I…