The Cameroonian pivot from Philadelphia, NBA MVP last season, entered a very exclusive club Monday evening by scoring 70 points during his team’s victory against the Spurs of French rookie Victor Wembanyama.
Before Joel Embiid, only eight players had scored 70 points or more in an NBA game: legend Wilt Chamberlain (record holder, with 100 points scored in 1962), Lakers winger Elgin Baylor (1960), Denver winger David Thompson (1978), Spurs center David Robinson (1994), Lakers guard Kobe Bryant (2006), and finally, three players still active, Phoenix guard Devin Booker (2017) and those of Cleveland Donovan Mitchell (2023), and Bucks Damian Lillard, then in Portland (2023).
To his 70 points (24/41 on shots, 21/23 on free throws), Embiid added 18 rebounds and 5 assists, for a 133-123 victory against the San Antonio Spurs of Victor Wembanyama, who did not deserve , with 33 points and 7 rebounds.
“It feels good,” Embiid commented after the victory, thanking his “extremely generous” teammates. “I was hot, they just gave me the ball and made sure I was always in the best positions. And hats off to the staff too, I’m surrounded by extraordinary people!”
“He can score in so many different ways,” praised his coach Nick Nurse. “His size (2.13 m) gives him a wide range of possibilities near the backboard and allows him to get free throws. And his shooting touch is what makes him very difficult to stop. When he’s motivated like that, anything can happen.”
Embiid’s performance helped the Sixers record a sixth straight victory. With 29 victories and 13 defeats, they are in 3rd place in the Eastern Conference.
Opposite, despite the solid performance of “Wemby”, the Spurs suffered their 35th defeat of the season, for only 8 victories. They are last in the Western Conference.
“He’s incredible, he’s great,” Embiid commented on the French rookie, whom he faced Monday night for the first time. “For me, he is already one of the best players in the League, he obviously has a great future awaiting him.”
Asked about a possible surplus of motivation against Wembanyama, whose arrival in the NBA was highly anticipated, the 2023 MVP dodged: “It doesn’t matter who is on the court. This is my state of mind: attack, dominate offensively and defensively. Tonight it was the same thing.”
Another notable offensive performance of the night, Minnesota interior Karl-Anthony Towns scored 62 points (21/35 on shots, including 10/15 at 3 points), but could not prevent his team, despite being leaders of the Western Conference, to suffer a second defeat in a row, 128-125 against the very weak Charlotte Hornets.
Kevin Durant scored 43 points, including the winning basket less than two seconds from the buzzer, to offer a 6th success in a row to the Suns against Chicago (115-113).
Leading the Eastern Conference and the entire NBA (34 wins-10 losses), the Celtics won 119-110 in Dallas, in an opposition between two brilliant duos: Jayson Tatum (39 points, 11 rebounds ) and Jaylen Brown (34 points) took the best for Boston over Luka Doncic (33 points, 18 rebounds, 13 assists) and Kyrie Irving (23 points).
The night’s results:Dallas – Boston 110 – 119Toronto – Memphis 100 – 108Sacramento – Atlanta 122 – 107Phoenix – Chicago 115 – 113Minnesota – Charlotte 125 – 128Philadelphia – San Antonio 133 – 123Orlando – Cleveland 99 – 126Detroit – Milwaukee 113 – 122
