Joel Embiid once again reminded the NBA of his massive potential Wednesday night in Los Angeles, where Philadelphia’s 7-foot-2 phenom cooked the Lakers for a a career-best performance.
Still in just his second season out of Kansas, Embiid’s new personal bests of 46 points, seven assists, seven blocks, 14 made field goals, 16 made free throws and 19 free-throw attempts — the do-it-all center grabbed 15 rebounds, too — fueled a 115-109 road win for the Sixers, who improved to 8-6 on the season.
> “I was just playing basketball
> basically,” [Embiid told The
> Inquirer’s Keith Pompey][1]. “They
> just kept throwing the ball to me in
> the post. And I kept finding new ways
> to score the ball and I went to the
> free-throw line. That’s where I was
> best at last year. I felt like today I
> did a great job.”
>
> Added the confident 23-year-old: “And
> with me using different moves and
> attacking them, they didn’t really
> know what to do.”
Most teams fall into that category of getting lost trying to stop Embiid. According to Synergy Sports Technology, the multi-skilled big man, who also shot 2-for-3 from 3-point range versus the Lakers, is the league’s best post-up player. He averages 8.6 points a night on post-ups in a modern NBA moving away low-block one-on-ones as an offensive staple.
Joel Embiid has been the @NBA‘s most prolific post up scorer by a significant margin, here’s a closer look at the league’s top back to the basket threats, 4 of whom also make 1+ 3-pointer per game. pic.twitter.com/LtW2Tb9VFE
— Synergy Sports Tech (@SynergySST) November 16, 2017
Per Synergy, Embiid shoots 60 percent when single-covered in the post.
In his post-game television interview — after stopping to show some love to Philadelphia’s smallest big fan, Kevin Hart — Embiid said staying assertive keyed his ridiculous production.
> “I did the same thing against the
> Clippers,” Philly’s biggest big said,
> referencing a 32-point, 16-rebound
> night two days earlier in which the
> man known most for missing games due
> to injuries and having his playing
> time restricted tallied a career-high
> 36 minutes. “I just wanted to come out
> and get down low and be a beast down
> there.”
.@JoelEmbiid with @NBCSPhilly‘s @MollySullivanTV after tonight’s huge performance and win, with cameos from @KevinHart4real & @BenSimmons25. https://t.co/641LdRKWTb
— Philadelphia 76ers (@sixers) November 16, 2017
Embiid, who had to spend the majority of his offseason resting and recovering from a knee injury said he still isn’t up to speed from a conditioning standpoint, and estimated he is at about 69 percent on that front a little more than a month into the season.
That’s a frightening idea for the rest of the league, considering what Embiid and likely Rookie of the Year Ben Simmons already are doing to teams.
> “It’s just not us, you’ve got to put
> it on our teammates, too,” Embiid
> said, crediting Robert Covington and
> J.J. Redick, as well as coach Brett
> Brown and his staff.
The Sixers, so bad for so long throughout “The Process” that landed them Embiid, Simmons and currently injured No. 1 overall pick Markelle Fultz, have won seven of their last nine games.
> “We still have a lot of work to do,”
> Embiid said.
The 23-year-old from Cameroon became the first NBA player with 40-plus points, seven-plus assists and seven-plus blocks in a game since another Sixers legend, Julius Erving, did it in 1982.
Joel Embiid is the first NBA player with 40+ points, 7+ assists and 7+ blocks in a game … since Julius Erving in 1982. pic.twitter.com/6P0f0cJK4l
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) November 16, 2017
Embiid, averaging 23.0 points, 11.2 rebounds, 1.9 blocks and 51.6-percent shooting this year, in 29.0 minutes, has played in just 43 games over the course of the past two seasons after missing his first two seasons due to injuries.
His health remains the biggest “if” in the NBA. But if Embiid can put those devastating injuries that sideline him for months behind him (everyone knock on the closest piece of wood you can find), he looks to be on a trajectory to become one of the league’s most dominating players.
[1]: http://www.philly.com/philly/sports/sixers/sixers-lakers-score-game-joel-embiid-ben-simmons-lonzo-ball-recap-20171116.html
