Television cameras caught an interesting image before the match between the Philadelphia 76ers and San Antonio Spurs this morning.
Before going on the field to warm up, reigning MVP Joel Embiid approached potential young rookie Victor Wembanyama. Embiid himself was also surprised by Wemby’s unusual body shape, shook his head slightly and then walked away.
Not long after, the NBA MVP delivered a historic performance to lead the 76ers to a 133-123 victory. Contributing greatly to this achievement, Joel Embiid scored 70 points, 18 rebounds and 5 assists .
Joel Embiid’s explosive game brought him into Philadelphia 76ers history, surpassing legendary Wilt Chamberlain to become the club’s player with the most points in a single match.
He set a record with 24-41 FG, shot 21 free throws (21-23 FT) and added 1 3-pointer for a total of 70 points. Besides this historic number, Joel also had 18 rebounds (including 9 offensive rebounds), 5 assists along with 1 steal and 1 block.
It cannot be ignored that Embiid played 37 minutes but only had 1 TO, creating an extremely effective match with few mistakes. No one on the San Antonio Spurs side can stop Joel, almost letting the 76ers bigman “get whatever he wants, get it” every time he holds the ball.
Let’s admire Joel Embiid’s 70 points, 18 rebounds masterpiece against the San Antonio Spurs
One of the important factors that helped Joel Embiid reach the 70-point mark today is that the San Antonio Spurs actively chased the Philadelphia 76ers in points.
Despite Embiid’s explosion, the Spurs, led by Victor Wembanyama, continuously followed Philadelphia in the first two rounds. The gap then widened to 17 points in the third quarter but narrowed to 1 digit in the fourth quarter.
This causes Joel Embiid to constantly compete and also continuously get points every time he holds the ball to attack.
The moment Joel Embiid left the field at the end of the fourth quarter amid cheers and endless applause from Philadelphia 76ers fans
This stellar scoring performance from Joel came on the same day as Karl-Anthony Towns’ 62-point outing. The two big men create the first pair of players since 1978 to both score over 60 points in one day, also the fourth pair in NBA history.
It’s even more special when the two strikers explode together on the 18th anniversary of Kobe Bryant’s 81-point game (gained against the Toronto Raptors).
