Joel Embiid locks up NBA scoring title before Sixers’ regular-season finale

Joel Embiid officially clinched the NBA’s scoring title Sunday, becoming the first center to lead the league in that category since Hall of Famer Shaquille O’Neal did so during the 1999-2000 season and the first foreign player to do so.

The 76ers’ MVP contender had already locked up the accomplishment before he was ruled out of Sunday’s regular-season finale against Detroit with right knee soreness. That occurred earlier Sunday, when Milwaukee star Giannis Antetokounmpo did not play in the Bucks’ regular-season finale against the Cleveland Cavaliers because of right knee soreness.

“I don’t think people realize how hard it is for a center to lead the NBA in scoring,” Sixers coach Doc Rivers said before Sunday’s game. “It’s so much easier for guards, because they have the ball and they can shoot whenever they want to. Centers are incumbent on not only getting the ball, but they’re the easiest guy to get trapped as well, and I don’t think that’s looked at a lot. ...

“We’ve had games where the guy’s been trapped every possession and he gets 40. Explain that. That’s just hard. That just tells you how dominant he’s been.”

Embiid will end his season averaging 30.6 points per game. The last center to average more than 30 points per game in a season is Hall of Famer and Sixers legend Moses Malone, who averaged 31.1 points per game in 1981-82 while with the Houston Rockets. Embiid also averaged 11.7 rebounds and a career-best 4.2 assists this season.

“He’s done it the right way,” Rivers said. “He’s passed the ball more this year than last year, yet he still leads us in scoring. It’s just a pretty cool thing. Very happy for him. I don’t know what it means, but I just know that it means that he’s dominant.”

Embiid made a strong final push to surge back to the top of that category, scoring at least 41 points in three of his final four regular-season games. Had Embiid played against the Pistons without scoring, Antetokounmpo would have needed to score at least 47 points to surpass him. Antetokounmpo would have needed to score at least 77 points had he played Sunday before Embiid sat out.

James Harden (left hamstring injury recovery) joined Embiid in missing Sunday’s game against the Pistons.

The game against Detroit was the second of a back-to-back set, a scenario in which Embiid and/or Harden has rested down the stretch. Yet playoff seeding — and, perhaps more importantly, playoff matchups — are still at stake for the Sixers on the regular season’s final night.

If the Sixers beat the Pistons and the Memphis Grizzlies beat the Boston Celtics, the Sixers will move up to third place in the Eastern Conference and will face the Chicago Bulls in the postseason’s first round. If the Sixers lose or Boston beats Memphis, the Sixers will finish in fourth and match up with the Toronto Raptors.

Facing the Raptors creates the possibility that top perimeter defender Matisse Thybulle, who as of earlier this week was not fully vaccinated against COVID-19, is still ineligible to travel to and play in Canada for those road postseason games. Thybulle missed the Sixers’ loss at Toronto on Thursday.

The Celtics, of course, also have incentive to avoid the Raptors. In a recent ESPN report, the Celtics (along with the Sixers) declined to comment on whether their complete roster was fully vaccinated. When the Celtics played at Toronto on March 28, starters Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, and Al Horford did not make the trip. Tatum, who had a significant bout with COVID last year, has said publicly that he is fully vaccinated. Brown, meanwhile, declined to share his status, and Horford said he will be “ready to play wherever” when the postseason begins.

Boston’s chances of winning Sunday appeared to increase when the Grizzlies’ afternoon injury report ruled out Ja Morant, Jaren Jackson Jr., Dillon Brooks, Tyus Jones, and Steven Adams. Desmond Bane and Brandon Clarke were listed as questionable to play.

Embiid and Harden both said after Saturday’s win over Indiana that they wanted to play in Sunday’s finale, but acknowledged a decision would arrive after discussions with Sixers staff.

Sixers reserve forward Georges Niang, who missed Saturday’s game with knee tendinopathy, and veteran big man Paul Millsap (non-COVID illness) also out Sunday. Rivers said Saturday that Niang’s injury is not serious.

Pistons rookie guard Cade Cunningham, who torched the Sixers for 27 points, six assists, and four steals in a March 31 win in Detroit, is listed as questionable to play Sunday because of right hip soreness.