Nuggets coach Michael Malone maintained proper perspective after Denver’s 114-110 win against Philadelphia, and you should, too, in determining the real victor from Monday’s Kia Race to the MVP Ladder matchup featuring leading candidates Nikola Jokic and Joel Embiid.

“I know a lot of the hoopla around the game was about Nikola Jokic versus Joel Embiid, and I understand why: two dominant big men who are both MVP candidates,” Malone said. “But for us, it was just as important to get a win. Obviously, we did not want to lose three games in a row at this stage of the season.”

Jokic and the Nuggets snapped a two-game skid by rallying from a 19-point deficit early to seize control late on the strength of deadeye shooting from Bones Hyland (4-for-5 from 3-point range in the fourth quarter), and gritty defense on Embiid from DeMarcus Cousins and JaMychal Green. Cousins also nailed consecutive 3-pointers over a span of 33 seconds early in the fourth to tie the score twice, and Green connected on back-to-back mid-range buckets in crunch time.

“I just knew I was gonna get hot and hit a couple of bombs,” said Hyland, who drilled three 3s in a span of 79 seconds in the fourth. “I just kept saying to myself, ‘I know I’m gonna hit it, I know I’m gonna hit it.’”

Then, bang. Bang. Bang.

See, even reigning MVPs need help against opponents worthy of this award. And Embiid certainly proved his mettle with a game-high 34 points — his 31st 30-point outing of the season — on 11-for-20 shooting to go with nine rebounds, four assists and two blocks.

The Sixers now own a record of 24-7 this season when Embiid puts up 30 points or more.

Jokic, meanwhile, scored a team-high 22 points while piling up 13 rebounds and eight assists for his NBA-best 56th double-double, and 22nd in a row.

“You’re going against one of the more dominant big men of the NBA, and just like every night, no matter who the other team’s best player is, you don’t put that responsibility on just one player,” Malone explained. “It’s not, ‘Hey, Nikola, it’s your responsibility to guard Joel Embiid.’ It truly takes a team effort. It takes five guys.

“[It’s the] same thing they were doing against Nikola. It’s on his main matchup, [but] the other four guys have to help. I feel we had some pretty good examples throughout the night of giving that help, double-teaming him at times, trying to get the ball out of his hands, because we know going in the one thing we can’t afford is for Nikola to get in foul trouble.”

Jokic rolled out to an inauspicious start, committing three of Denver’s seven turnovers in the opening frame that Philadelphia converted into 10 points on the way to a 17-point lead.

Jokic turned over the ball a total of five times on the night, but only once in the decisive fourth quarter. Embiid was responsible for two of Philadelphia’s five turnovers in the fourth that led to five points by the Nuggets, while Jokic finished the second half with 9 points on 4-for-6 from the floor with four assists and seven rebounds.

“I think the bench helped us a lot,” Jokic said. “They took the lead back. The bench was really great today. I think that’s the reason why we won the game. Bones hit a couple of 3’s, (DeMarcus Cousins) hit a couple of 3s, (JaMychal Green) took a couple of charges, (Cousins) took a charge. So, I think the whole second group was amazing today.”

Dominant comes to mind, too. Hyland, Cousins, Green, Bryn Forbes and Austin Rivers outscored Philadelphia’s bench unit of DeAndre Jordan, Georges Niang, Danny Green and Shake Milton by 34 points, 48-14.

Ultimately, Embiid put up the stats. Jokic won the game.

Both teams now sit at 41 victories in different spots in the standings of their respective conferences.

So, the result from this latest battle between MVP candidate headliners shouldn’t mean too much once the voters start digging in to decide the outcome of this neck-and-neck race.

History tells us that, too (sort of). Over the past 10 years, the winners of the Kia MVP owned a combined head-to-head record of 17-7 over the players finishing second in voting. The Sporting News’ Micah Adams took it a step further, noting that in the 15 closest MVP races since the 1976 merger, the eventual MVPs finished with a combined record of 22-22 head-to-head against the runner ups.

This one qualifies as close, folks.

The matchup at the Wells Fargo Center also represented the first meeting since December of 2019 between Jokic and Embiid, who entered the contest with a 4-1 record head-to-head against the Nuggets center.

“He’s a great player, great competition, I love playing against the best,” Embiid said. “He’s a monster. I love watching him. But he’s also easy to study.”

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Michael C. Wright is a senior writer for NBA.com. You can e-mail him here, find his archive here and follow him on Twitter.

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