As Joel Embid’s lofty scoring totals become routine, Sixers teammates ‘don’t want to take it for granted’

PORTLAND, Ore. — Tyrese Maxey often responds to questions about Joel Embiid’s dominance with the simple, yet accurate, “He’s really good at basketball.”

Yet the 76ers guard recognized how outings such as the 41 points Embiid amassed during Tuesday’s victory over the Los Angeles Clippers have become routine.

“I keep saying I don’t want to take it for granted,” Maxey said. “But it’s almost like, if we look up and he doesn’t have 40 [or] anything above 35, it’s like, ‘Where’s Joel at? Is Joel playing today?’ … He does it so [easily].”

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Sixers coach Doc Rivers agreed that Embiid’s Tuesday outing somehow felt “quiet.” But the All-NBA big man has scored at least 30 points in 10 of his last 11 games and has totaled at least 35 points 15 times this season. Entering Wednesday, all other NBA centers have a combined 10 35-point games this season. Helping boost Embiid’s lofty point totals is that he enters Thursday making a career-best 53.6% of his shots and a career-high 10.1 free throws per game at an 85.4% clip.

When asked Tuesday if the game is becoming “easier,” Embiid responded with, “Not to sound cocky, I think things have always been pretty easy.”

“But every single night, there’s a different challenge,” he said, “and you’ve got to be able to have a mindset to be able to process it very fast, to where you can adjust to anything, because I’ve seen a lot of coverages. …

“What I’ve gotten better at over the years is just my mentality as far as just trying to dominate no matter what’s in front of me and no matter what they throw at me.”

Embiid enters Thursday’s road game against the Portland Trail Blazers averaging 33.6 points per game, nearly keeping pace with the Dallas Mavericks’ Luka Dončić’s 33.8 ppg. The Denver Nuggets’ Nikola Jokić, however, might be considered the front-runner to win his third consecutive NBA MVP award. At virtually the same time as Embiid’s big performance Tuesday at Crypto.com Arena, Jokić put together a flabbergasting triple-double, with 36 points on 13-of-14 shooting from the floor and 9-of-10 shooting from the free-throw line, 12 rebounds, and 10 assists for a Nuggets team atop the Western Conference standings.

That means the discourse for the regular season’s top individual award could again surround Jokić and Embiid, assuming both players stay healthy and their teams keep winning. The first Sixers-Nuggets matchup is a nationally televised Jan. 28 matinee in Philly.

“Those two guys are special,” Rivers said. “They literally are. … They’re both dominating, and what I think’s great from both of them, they’re not just doing it on the post. They can do it on the post, but they’re doing it in every way, which is amazing.”

After missing Saturday’s win at Utah with left knee soreness, standout forward Tobias Harris played normal minutes during Sunday’s win against the Lakers and Tuesday’s victory over the Clippers.

Harris acknowledged after Tuesday’s game that his injury is “still there and lingering a little bit.” But that did not prevent him from putting together a first half Tuesday — 14 points on 6-of-9 shooting, three rebounds, and three assists — that was one of his best of the season.

“I said it after the game,” Harris said, “I was like, ‘Man, I’m going to be hurting a little bit tomorrow.’ But I’ll be all right and recover.”

In addition to his offensive responsibilities, Harris has been tasked the last two games with guarding all-timer LeBron James in crunch time and Clippers stars Kawhi Leonard and Paul George in stretches.