Joel Embiid’s career-high 59 points lift Sixers to 105-98 victory over Utah Jazz
Though he started the season off out of shape due to yet another injury recovery, the center is now hitting new heights.
Joel Embiid bent over at the 76ers’ free-throw line as “M-V-P!” chants rained down from the Wells Fargo Center stands.
The All-NBA big man has been serenaded with those three letters during almost every home game in recent seasons. But they carried additional gravitas — and credibility — Sunday night.
Embiid amassed a stat line reserved solely for the NBA all-timers in perhaps the most impressive individual performance of his basketball life, racking up a career-high 59 points, 11 rebounds, eight assists, and seven blocks to propel the Sixers to a 105-98 victory over the Utah Jazz.
“Those shots that I took, I usually make them,” said Embiid, who shot 19-for-28 from the field, 1-for-5 on threes, and 20-for-24 from the foul line. “And some nights, I’m going to miss them. I’m just happy that they went in, but then again, my teammates knew who had the hot hand and they just had to feed me. I thought when I got double-teamed late in the fourth, I made the right plays. We did it as a team.”
It’s not hyperbole to call Embiid’s masterpiece one of the best in Sixers and NBA history. Since blocks became an official stat in 1973-74, he is the only player to total at least 50 points, 10 rebounds, five assists and five rejections in a game. And it was the fifth-highest single-game scoring output in franchise history, only surpassed by legends Wilt Chamberlain (who scored 68, 65 and 62 points in the 1960s) and Allen Iverson (who scored 60 in 2005). Chamberlain’s 100-point game occurred when he was a member of the Philadelphia Warriors, not Sixers.
“I’ve never seen a more dominating performance when you combine defense and offense,” said coach Doc Rivers, who played with Hall of Famer Dominique Wilkins and coached greats such as Kevin Garnett and Chris Paul.
Said wing Matisse Thybulle: “My friends were texting me after the game — it’s like [an NBA] 2K stat line. It’s not one of those things you see in a real basketball game. It’s like when you pick one player on 2K and just do everything with them. It’s pretty ridiculous.”
Added guard Tyrese Maxey: “Joel Embiid’s very good at basketball. There’s nothing else I can really say about it.”
Embiid’s personal avalanche occurred about 24 hours after he dropped 42 points in 40 minutes during Saturday’s victory over the Atlanta Hawks, and less than a week after returning from a three-game absence because of the flu. He scored 26 of the Sixers’ 27 fourth-quarter points — and recorded five blocks during that same timeframe — to fend off every Jazz push.
Embiid reached the career scoring milestone during a two-minute stretch in the fourth quarter. He tied the score at 94 with a turnaround jumper with less than six minutes to play, hit 50 on two free throws on the Sixers’ next possession and created a new career high with two more foul shots that gave the Sixers a 98-96 advantage with 4:17 remaining.
Later, Embiid’s jumper with about a minute to play gave the Sixers a 103-98 lead to all but seal the victory, before he tried for 60 points on a turnaround three-point attempt that bounced off the back of the rim with about 20 seconds left.
“I made it harder than it should have been,” Embiid said of that final attempt. “I could have easily dribbled the ball and pulled up, but I guess I was feeling myself.”
Embiid scored 13 first-quarter points, setting a strong tone for the second night in a row. He helped pull the Sixers out of a 14-point second-quarter hole, which his team fell into as he rested. He dropped in a game-tying shot through contact with about nine minutes to play in the fourth, before swatting away a Jordan Clarkson shot and hitting a jumper to give the Sixers an 88-86 lead with less than nine minutes remaining.
He recorded his 10th rebound off a Tobias Harris miss at the rim (which he naturally finished with a put-back). The only reason he never got to 10 assists was because he just kept making shots, going 7-of-8 from the floor and 12-of-15 from the free-throw stripe during the final period. Yet when asked what he was most proud of on the night, Embiid highlighted that he had zero turnovers in the second half after giving the ball away on three consecutive possessions in the second quarter.
“I just wanted to make sure I didn’t speed myself and just take whatever the defense gave me,” he said.
The Sixers’ down-to-the-wire victory evened their record at 7-7. And it came against the pesky Jazz, who were supposed to be “tanking” after trading All-Stars Donovan Mitchell and Rudy Gobert during the offseason but had instead been one of the league’s pleasant early surprises with a 10-4 record entering Sunday to sit atop the Western Conference.
And now, Embiid can rest. The Sixers have a rare four days before their next game, a home contest against a Milwaukee Bucks team that boasted the NBA’s best record at 10-2 entering Sunday.
Bench woes
The good news for the Sixers: Embiid is clearly regaining his rhythm amid early-season health troubles. He played the entire first quarter Sunday, making him the last starter to sub out of the game. Then, he was on the floor for all but 57 seconds in the final period.
The bad news for the Sixers: They struggled mightily when Embiid took his in-game breaks.
Utah’s bench outscored the Sixers’ 45-18, highlighted by Malik Beasley’s 18 points, Collin Sexton’s 15 points and rookie Walker Kessler’s nine rebounds and three blocks. That scoring discrepancy was a particularly unsightly 31-8 at halftime. Every Sixers reserve also had a negative plus-minus.
Rivers continues to tinker with his rotation with James Harden out for at least a few more weeks with a foot injury.
Thybulle started for the second consecutive game for his defensive abilities, Rivers said. Danuel House was initially the first wing off the bench over De’Anthony Melton, who missed Saturday’s win over the Atlanta Hawks with back stiffness, before Melton came in ahead of House in the second half. Embiid playing the entire first quarter meant an all-bench lineup of Milton, Melton, House, Georges Niang, and Paul Reed briefly began the second quarter, before starters Maxey and Tobias Harris came back into the game.
The backup center pecking order also appears to be up in the air again. Rivers briefly replaced Reed with Montrezl Harrell, who had not been in the rotation for the previous three games, before Embiid returned in the second quarter. Harrell was then Embiid’s sub when he exited about midway through the third frame — and provided two rim-rocking dunks to even the score at 74 late in the quarter.
“It’s going to be in flux all year, guys,” Rivers said after the game. “Right now, you try to ride the hot hand, or if one guy’s struggling, you go with the other one.”
Harden back with team
After stepping away to attend to a personal matter for a few days, Harden has been back on the Sixers’ bench. Harden was walking in regular shoes, after Rivers said Harden was not supposed to put weight on his injured foot for approximately the first week of his recovery.
Harden has been an enthusiastic teammate, standing to clap as he encourages teammates. And Rivers hopes Harden, a perennial All-Star who was leading the NBA in assists before his injury, can still pass some of his observations onto his teammates on the floor.
“I have learned that, most of the time, [players] want to hear from the guys who are on the floor more,” Rivers said. “But James is a Hall of Fame basketball player, and you just hope if he sees something and he tells you, you would actually hear it and listen. …
“He’s really an astute thinker of the game, so he’s paying attention and watching — and if he says something, it’s probably true.”
» READ MORE: 76ers’ Furkan Korkmaz out Sunday vs. Jazz; Joel Embiid and De’Anthoy Melton not listed on injury report
Weird stats
The Sixers missed nine of their first 10 three-pointers, while the Jazz missed eight of their first 11 free throws. The Sixers ended the night 4-of-23 from deep, while the Jazz went 13-of-23 from the free-throw line.