Joel Embiid serves as a one-man show in Sixers’ 123-110 victory over Orlando Magic | Analysis

With the NBA trade deadline three weeks away, Doc Rivers was asked Wednesday what the 76ers need to acquire to ensure a deep postseason run.

“Right now, when we’re whole with what we have, we’ve been pretty good,” the coach said. “Whether that means we go deep (in the playoffs), I don’t know that. Maybe we’re overachieving. I don’t know that.

“I don’t focus on what we don’t have because that’s silly for me to do — I can only focus on what we done have.”

Rivers added that he likes his team and wouldn’t make a prediction.

The general belief is the Sixers need a consistent second scorer to play with Joel Embiid. However, he was a successful one-man show Wednesday night in the Sixers’ 123-110 victory over the Orlando Magic at the Wells Fargo Center.

Embiid finished with a career-high-tying 50 points to go with 12 rebounds and three blocks in just 27 minutes, 3 seconds. It was the fewest minutes played in a 50-point, 10-rebound game in the shot-clock era, which began during the 1954-55 season. He’s also joined Golden State Warriors guard Klay Thompson (52 points on Oct. 29, 2018) as the only players with 50 in less than 28 minutes. On this night, Embiid made 17 of 23 shots and went 15-for-17 from the foul line.

He also joined Wilt Chamberlain (11 times) and Allen Iverson (10) as the only Sixers with multiple 50-point performances.

“Fifty in 27, that’s the most impressive part,” Rivers said. “He did it in 27 minutes. I played with Dominique [Wilkins as an Atlanta Hawk]. I’ve seen Dominique score more but it took the whole game. That was easy, quick efficient and determined.”

His 1.852 points per minute are the eighth most all-time in an NBA game.

“I was a fan,” Tyrese Maxey said. “It was amazing to watch. [Before the game] I asked, ‘Who are you going to be tonight? Shaq? Dirk? Because he can do everything. He was like, ‘I’m going to be Joel.’

“I like ‘Oh, OK. You go be Joel then.’”

Embiid had good reasoning for his answer.

“I said, “Me” because, at times, I’m able to be Shaq,” he said. “Whenever I want, I’m able to be Dirk or Kobe, MJ [Michael Jordan] or any guards really, meaning shooting off the dribble or pull-ups or you know ball handling. Just a combination of everything, offensively.”

But Embiid thought he was just OK on this night.

Tobias Harris added 21 points. Maxey added 14 as the Sixers (26-18) posted their 10th win in 12 games. Meanwhile, the Magic dropped to 8-38 while losing 13 of their last 14 games.

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Embiid looked like a player in desperate need of some help in the first quarter.

The four-time All-Star scored 20 of the Sixers’ 25 first-quarter points. Embiid’s first-quarter points came on 8-for-10 shooting. His teammates made just 1 of 9 shots before he was subbed out of the game with 1:21 left in the quarter.

Afterward, Georges Niang buried a three-pointer before Andre Drummond missed an alley-oop dunk.

The Sixers took a four-point lead into the second quarter.

The Magic went on to an 57-47 lead into the half. However, the Sixers got back into the game thanks to a dominant third-quarter by Embiid. He scored 23 points on 8-for-10 in the quarter. His step-back three-pointer with 25 seconds left in the quarter gave him 47 points and the Sixers a 92-80 lead. At that point, he had two more points than his teammates combined.

Embiid played just 1:25 of the fourth quarter. He scored three points from the foul line before exiting the game for good with 6:25 remaining.

“I mean, he’s kind of being doing that the whole year,” Harris said of Embiid’s dominant performance. “Tonight was like even more offensively with 50 points. But he’s been our anchor all year. His dominance on the floor is evident.”

This marked the 18th time that Embiid has scored at least 30 points this season.

While in his groove, he said his focus was on playing basketball the right way.

“I thought even tonight I was making fadeaways all over the place and getting to the free throw line,” he said. “But at the same time, I was still moving the ball. It’s all about playing the right way. The ball is always going to find me.

“These guys have a lot of trust in me, and they’re also looking for me. It doesn’t matter any time in the game, the ball is always going to find me.”

The former Westtown School standout had a solid homecoming, finishing with a career-high 32 points. The fourth-year player did most of his damage in the first half, scoring 38 points while making 7 of 8 three-pointers. Bamba was left wide open in most of his three-point attempts. He fouled out with 6:26 remaining.

On this night, the Sixers went with a starting lineup of Charlie Brown Jr., Harris, Embiid, Curry and Maxey. This marked Brown’s first start after signing a two-way contract with the Sixers on Jan. 11. It was the second start of his three-year NBA career. The small forward’s other start came as an Oklahoma City Thunder back on May 1, 2021.

Brown looked like a guy overly excited to make his first start for his hometown team.

Defensively, the Northeast Philly native was scrambling over the place. He was skittish on the offensive end.

However, he did have one block, committed a foul and missed his lone shot attempt before being subbed out of the game with 5:34 left in the first quarter. Brown ended with three points.

Rivers did agree that the Sixers had certain needs.

“But I also believe every team has needs,” he said. “Unless there’s a perfect team out there, there’s needs everywhere. And we clearly would like to address some of ours. There’s no doubt about that. I’m not saying I don’t want to make our team better.

“But at the end of the day, as a coach, you just have to worry about what you have.

However, this current group needs more consistent rebounding. They ranked last in the league at 42.1 rebounds per game heading into Wednesday’s contest. The Sixers also need someone to step up and become a consistent playmaker.

“I’ve had a lot of success getting teams to the playoffs and never struggled with that,” Rivers said. “You need playmakers in the playoffs. You just do. They’re going to take you out of their stuff. You need guys that are going to be able to make plays for themselves and for others. The more you have, the better team you have, the better chance you have.”

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This marked the eighth game that Shake Milton has missed after suffering a back contusion in a game against the Houston Rockets on Jan. 3.

“After I got hit, my back just kind of, a combination of spasms and just really tightening and locking up,” Milton said.

Since then, the reserve point guard has undergone acupuncture, massage therapy and treatment. He’s been on the court doing individual drills for the last few days.

Milton has a target return date. He just didn’t want to disclose it Wednesday.

“Soon for sure,” he said. “I mean, the more I get out there and able to run up and down, you know what I mean? Play like 5-on-5 and get some real good runs in, I’ll be good to go.”