In last night’s clash, Joel Embiid bludgeoned the Celtics with 52 points and 13 rebounds to give the Sixers the win. From halftime, the pivot entered a little more in the court of the very big, walking in the footsteps of Shaquille O’Neal for the number of points scored in a season by a pivot. Just that.
Joel Embiid’s current season is MVP-caliber, that’s undeniable. The Sixers are third in the East, Jojo is dominant in any league racket and is the NBA’s leading scorer with 33.3 points this season. Something really sick. In the game against Boston tonight, the man of three nationalities wrote history again. By halftime that game, Embiid had 2,134 total points this season, making him the most prolific scoring pivot since Shaquille O’Neal (2,344) in 1999-00, his first year MVP..
By the end of the game, the Sixers behemoth took that total to 2,162. However, it seems hard to see the No. 21 scoring 182 points in three games to break the record. That means Embiid should plant 60 points on the lead of the Heat, Hawks and Nets. Nevertheless, tickling Shaq’s stats, when you’re pivot, is far from being a meager accomplishment.
With 24 points at half against the Celtics, Joel Embiid now has 2,134 points this season.
That is the most in a season by a center since Shaquille O’Neal’s MVP season in 1999-2000 (2,344). pic.twitter.com/Xpk8d5OeGl
— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) April 5, 2023
In a post-match press conference, his coach Doc Rivers has loudly declared that the MVP race is over. His foal is, according to him, far ahead of Jokic and Giannis. A logical statement, the Doc preaches for his parish. Mike Budenholzer could say the same with Giannis Antetokounmpo who still slammed a triple-double in the same evening against the Wizards. And even if the current dynamic is less dreaming, especially after a defeat against the terrible Houston Rockets, Mike Malone could do the same with Nikola Jokic who runs almost triple-double average being the leader of the west.
Each candidate for this individual trophy has his arguments, but that is not the question here. In addition to being the most statistically dominant pivot since Shaq, Joel Embiid will most likely finish the season as the League’s top scorer for a second consecutive year. An unprecedented achievement since Kareem Abdul-Jabbar for a pivot.
The Cameroonian native is having an extraordinary 2022-23 regular season. From now on, we expect him to perform well and be in good shape in the Playoffs, where the greats really write history. There is this glass ceiling of the semi-finals to break. The Sixers have never seemed so ready and serene for a bunch of years for this deadline. Appointment is therefore given from mid-April to see it in action.
Source : ESPN
