What’s next on Joel Embiid’s to-do list? A title. ‘That’s the ultimate goal’

Joel Embiid’s goal was simple: “Get better.”

The 76ers center wanted to improve in every possible area. On the surface, that seemed a bit steep, considering he scored a league-best 30.6 points last season.

So, in what was another memorable season for him, Embiid won his second straight scoring title with 33.1 points per game.

“Obviously, next year, if I gotta get better again, that’s probably averaging 35, 36 a game,” he said. “The last guy that did it was James [Harden] and that’s hard to do, and that’s impossible. But I still gotta find ways to get better. There’s so many ways I can get better.

“But yeah, so far, it is my best season, offensively, defensively, and as far as everything, growing as a person and as a basketball player.”

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Embiid’s maturation into the MVP frontrunner is the main reason the Sixers are heavily favored to dispose of the Brooklyn Nets in the first round of the NBA playoffs. He finished with 26 points, five rebounds, three assists, and two blocks as the Sixers rolled to a 121-101 Game 1 victory Saturday afternoon at the Wells Fargo Center.

But Embiid had a memorable regular season.

In addition to leading the NBA in scoring, he finished eighth (10.2) in rebounding and seventh in blocks (1.7). He averaged 31.5 points, 11.5 rebounds and 2.5 assists in his two games against the Nets. Embiid shot 96.2% from the foul line, his highest percentage against any team this season. And the center matchup against Brooklyn is expected to be entertaining.

Brooklyn’s Nic Claxton finished second (2.5) in the league in blocks. But at 6-foot-11, 215 pounds, the 23-year-old is miniature compared to the 7-2, 280-pound Embiid.

“That’s what you live for as a competitor, probably gonna win the MVP,” Claxton said before the series began. “It will be a good challenge for myself and for the team.”

The Nets will continue to rely on a group effort to defend the six-time All-Star. On Saturday, the Nets double-teamed Embiid throughout the game. Claxton understands that he must stay out of foul trouble against Embiid, who was second in the league in free throw attempts (11.68). Claxton had only two fouls on Saturday after he failed to do that during this season’s meetings. He committed five and four fouls in the two regular-season games he played agiainst Embiid.

“You gotta give him a bunch of different looks,” Nets forward Dorian Finney-Smith said last week. “He’s probably the MVP, so like I said, he’s been having a great year. You can’t give a guy like that the same coverage all game.”

Finney-Smith knows the Nets can’t stop Embiid, whose career scoring average (27.2 points) ranks fifth all-time in NBA history behind Hall of Famers Michael Jordan, Wilt Chamberlain, Elgin Baylor, and Kevin Durant.

“It’s gonna take a lot of bodies,” Finney-Smith said. “It’s gonna be a team effort, man, when you got a guy like that who can also get rebounds on top of the post-ups he’s getting.”

In Game 1, Brooklyn’s constant double teams didn’t work, as Embiid kept setting up teammates with passes.

They’ll also have to deal with Embiid’s determination factor.

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The seventh-year veteran has suffered four second-round exits in his previous five postseason appearances. The Sixers were swept in the first round by the Boston Celtics in the other playoff appearance.

Winning a championship would mean everything to him.

“That’s the ultimate goal,” Embiid said. “Since I’ve been in the league, I saw it as a goal. And you want to do whatever is possible to try to win it. It’s not going to take just one person.

“You can’t win alone. You’ve got to win as a team. So we’ve just got to stay together and come together.”

Embiid has a future Hall of Fame co-star in point guard Harden and a budding third star in Tyrese Maxey. Tobias Harris might be the league’s best fourth option. The Sixers also added much-needed toughness in the offseason with the acquisitions of P.J. Tucker, De’Anthony Melton and Danuel House Jr.

But winning a championship won’t be easy.

If the Sixers advance out of the first round, they’ll probably have a tough second-round matchup with the Boston Celtics. And if they reach the Eastern Conference finals, odds are they will face the Milwaukee Bucks. The Bucks and Celtics are the league’s two best teams.

A championship would definitely add to Embiid’s legacy.

In addition to being the MVP frontrunner, he’s the first center to win consecutive scoring title since Bob McAdoo won three straight for the Buffalo Braves from 1974-76. But he knows he’ll have to win at least one title if he expects to join a small fraternity of elite players, which includes LeBron James, Durant, and Steph Curry.

“Takes a lot of luck, too,” Embiid said. “You’ve got to have a great team around you. You know Steph, obviously having Klay [Thompson] and Draymond [Green] and a deep bench [with the Golden State Warriors] and KD coming in. That’s an amazing team to go out and try to compete and win a championship with.

“LeBron, all of his teams [the Miami Heat, Cleveland Cavaliers, and Los Angeles Lakers]. Whether it’s D-Wade, Chris Bosh, or Kyrie [Irving], you know AD [Anthony Davis], you need that second and third guy, and role players got to do their job.”

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He thinks the Sixers came together in the regular season. But he knows the team will have to do it even more this postseason to win a title.

“Everybody’s got to be at their best,” Embiid said, “or you are not going to win anything.”

If so, with a little bit of luck, he just might be in position to accomplish another goal.