Nov 13, 2022; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Philadelphia 76ers center Joel Embiid (21) walks off the court with a game ball after scoring 59 points in a victory against the Utah Jazz at Wells Fargo Center. Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports
NBA: Utah Jazz at Philadelphia 76ers
Joel Embiid scored 59 points, grabbed 11 rebounds, dished out 8 assists, and recorded 7 blocks in the 76ers’ 105-98 win over the Utah Jazz last night.
The dominance in which Embiid controlled the game was absurd to digest in real time. On both sides of the floor, he looked like he was playing an entirely different sport than everyone else. The 59/11/8/7 statline is one that put Embiid in an echelon that has never been reached before. Even if you lower each stat category significantly to an even 5010/5/5, it’s still a statline no one has ever put up before last night.
All Doc Rivers could do is recite the chorus of Drake and 21 Savage’s single “Rich Flex” as Embiid had the best individual performance in the league this season. “21, can you do something for me” was the tune replaying the Sixers’ head coach’s head when the game went into autopilot and Joel Embiid was the computer that steered it.
Regardless of what defender tried to stop him, Embiid scored at will. If the 19-of-28 shooting wasn’t enough, Embiid was getting battered every time he wasn’t successfully putting the ball in the net and made 24 appearances at the stripe. This wasn’t an instance of a star forcing the scoring, the center posted a ridiculous 76.5% TS%.
Even if you isolate the scoring alone, Embiid did something that’s been almost unheard of positionally in the modern era. His 59 points has him join Karl-Anthony Towns, Shaquille O’Neal, and David Robinson as the only centers to score 59+ points in a game since the merger.
To expand this ridiculous statline beyond one game, this was Embiid’s second game in a 24-hour span. Just a day before, Embiid played against the Atlanta Hawks and set a season high in scoring, totalling his numbers to 101 points, 21 rebounds, 14 assists, and 9 blocks in a single-day span.
Joel Embiid’s 54.4 game score – a stat category that accounts for all counting stats in a single game – is the 7th highest in a regular season game of all time.
Poor Darius Garland. Mere hours before Embiid scored 59, Garland had a career game where he scored 51 points and set the mark for the highest scoring game in the league this season. Later that day, Embiid had to overshadow him.
Spirits were high because in addition to the once-in-a-lifetime statline, Embiid and the Philadelphia 76ers secured the win. After the game, the human smile Tyrese Maxey, joined Embiid for a feel-good post-game interview.
“I missed too many free throws,” Embiid said as he dapped Maxey up.
“Yeah, you suck,” Maxey said with a grin as he ran out of sight.
With good spirits returning to the struggling 76ers, hopes are up for the team that is now .500 on the year. Embiid returns to MVP discussions with his excellent performance of play since returning from injury. Since suiting back up, he’s averaged 40 PPG, 11 RPG, 5.3 APG, and 2.8 BPG in 4 games, where the Sixers went 3-1 in the span.
Don’t overthink it; this was one of the best individual performances we’ve ever seen.
