Things have not gone swimmingly for the
Philadelphia 76ers to start the 2022-23 season. They began this season losing
four of their first five games and they are currently without one half of their
perennial All-Star duo. They have found their footing in recent games and got
back to .500 at the start of this week behind a historic performance by their All-Star
center, whose dynamic fourth quarter had their visiting opponent singing the
blues.
In the 76ers (7-7) 105-98 victory on
Sunday versus the Utah Jazz (10-5), Joel Embiid registered a career-high of 59
points with 11 rebounds, eight assists, and a career-high-tying seven block
shots on 19/28 from the field and 20/24 at the foul line.
The reigning scoring champion, who heard
chants of from 2021-22 and five-time All-Star
got the party started in the opening half with 24 points on 8/14 shooting and
7/8 from the charity strip in the opening half.
He saved his best for last scoring 26 of his
team’s 27 fourth quarter points becoming the first player in NBA history to
with 50 points, 10 rebounds, five assists, and five block shots in a game since
block shots became an official stat in the 1973-74 season.
Embiid, whose previous career-high was 50
points that he registered twice in his career scored from every wear in the
paint. On his fadeaway jumpers, jump hooks, and dribble drives into the paint. At
the foul line. He even hit a three, going 1/5 from three-point range and 2/11
from three the last two games total.
“All credit to my teammates. They just
found me. They just gave me the ball,” Embiid, whose performance was on the
heels of a double-double of 42 points and 10 rebounds with six assists, two
steals, and two blocks on 14/25 from the floor and 13/16 at the charity stripe
in the 76ers 121-109 win the night before versus the Hawks (9-5).
“My teammates knew who had the hot hand
and they just had to feed me.”
Joel Embiid’s Production 1st Quarter: 13 Points, 3 Rebounds,
3 Assists, 1 Block,
By Quarter Versus Jazz 4/9 FGs, 5/6
FTs
2nd
Quarter: 11 Points, 4/5 FGs, 2/2 FTs
3rd
Quarter: 9 Points, 4 Rebounds, 4 Assists, 4/6 FGs, 1/1 FTs
4th
Quarter: 26 Points, 3 Rebounds, 5 Blocks, 7/8 FGs,
12/15 FTs
To put into context how good the four-time All-NBA Second Team selection’s performance was Sunday night, he shot 24 of the 76ers 26 free throws hitting 20 of the team’s 24 free throws. He scored the fifth most points in a single-game in franchise history. The late Hall of Famer Wilt Chamberlin had the three highest scoring games in 76ers history with 68 points in 1967 and games of 65 and 62 points in 1966. Fellow Hall of Famer Allen Iverson had 60 points in a game in 2005.
“Those are two legends that played here
that I respect a lot and to be in that company means a lot. I still got a long
ways to go,” Embiid, who had dating back to last season his 30th
20-plus point half said about his performance in comparison to Chamberlin and Iverson.
Embiid, who like last season and throughout
his now nine-year NBA has dealt with nagging injuries to register his best
performance so far in 2022-23 in his seventh game played out of the 76ers first
14 games.
His 101 total points over the weekend made
Embiid only the third since 1988 to score 100-plus points on back-to-back
games.
“You thought 50-point, 60-point game
because he started out the game rolling,” 76ers head coach Glenn “Doc” Rivers
said of Embiid’s performance in his postgame presser after the win versus the
Jazz. “And then in the second half—he just got on a roll. We fell on a [offensive
set] that they [Jazz] were really struggling guarding and we stayed on it and
you know, he delivered.”
Embiid was well aware that he was right at
the doorstep of scoring 60 points. He tossed up a turnaround triple try in the
closing minutes attempting to score 60 that he missed.
“I could have easily dribbled the ball and
pulled up,” Embiid said, laughing after the win.
Embiid has done all of this without 2018
Kia MVP James Harden, who is out currently with an injured foot.
The number that stood out the most to
Embiid was zero turnovers in the second half after registering five first half
turnovers.
Starting third-year guard Tyrese Maxey,
who was the only other 76er to score in double-figures with 18 points on Sunday
night versus the Jazz jumped on Embiid’s back and pounded the center’s chest in
celebration of the career-night scoring wise.
“He’s just very good at basketball,” Maxey,
out of the University of Kentucky said in his postgame presser about Embiid. “It’s
just really good to see him back and he’s having a lot of fun. I think you can
tell he’s hitting his groove, honestly. And now I think he’s finally hitting
his stride.”
While the 101 points Embiid as mentioned has
totaled the last two games is the headline, he played at an elite level on both
ends of the court as a rebounder and rim protector.
One of his five block shots that Embiid had in the final period came on Jazz reserve guard Collin Sexton in an open court chance. He had another rejection on a driving layup attempt by Talen Horton-Tucker in the fourth quarter and another on Jazz starting guard Jordan Clarkson on a dribble drive. He also denied a layup attempts off a slip pick-and-roll on Jazz's starting forward Lauri Markkanen.
“One thing that I was proud of him about today
was how he protected the rim,” Maxey also said about Embiid’s dominant defensive
performance. “Those guys were driving in their [in the paint] hard. He [Embiid]
was blocking shots late in the fourth quarter. He had to switch out onto a
couple of guys. He was huge tonight.”
Like a few teams in the entire NBA, not
just the Eastern Conference, the Philadelphia 76ers have dreams of winning a
title. At the start of this season, those dreams were on shaky ground getting
off to a 1-4 start.
The 76ers have gone 5-2 their last seven
games, which includes two straight wins and three wins their first four games
so far in November 2022.
Their last two wins came thanks to
consecutive dominating performances of perennial All-Star center Joel Embiid.
He will have to continue to be dominant until
James Harden returns from injury as well as get major contributions from new
additions in veteran P.J. Tucker, De’Anthony Melton, Montrezl Harrell, and
Danuel House, Jr. as well as Shake Milton, Tobias Harris, Matisse Thybulle.
The 76ers have the talent to really make
some noise and reach The Finals for the first time since 2001 when the Allen
Iverson led squad from the “City of Brotherly Love” lost in five games to the
eventual back-to-back champion Los Angeles Lakers led by Hall of Famers in
current NBA on TNT studio analyst Shaquille O’Neal and the late Kobe Bryant.
For that to happen, they need Embiid to
remain healthy and play at the level he did in the 76ers wins versus the
Atlanta Hawks and Utah Jazz.
“We go as far as I’m going to take them,”
Embiid said after his performance versus the Jazz to NBC Sports Philadelphia’s Kate
Scott and Alaa Abdelnaby. “I’m feeling great. I’m ready to go every single
night.”
Information, statistics, and quotations
are courtesy of 11/14/2022 1 a.m. edition of NBATV’s “Gametime,” presented by
Kia with Nabil Karim, Steve Smith, and Candace Parker; https://www.nba.com/game/boxscore/uta-vs-phi-0022200195;
https://www.espn.com/nba/recap/_/gameid/401468350;
https://www.espn.com/nba/player/gamelog/_/3059318;
and https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joel_Embiid.
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