Doc Rivers has no doubts about who’s taking home this season’s MVP award after another dominant showing Tuesday evening from Joel Embiid in the Philadelphia 76ers’ 103-101 win over the Boston Celtics.
“The MVP race is over. … The man just scored half our points in an NBA game,” Rivers told reporters postgame. “And I’m biased. But the MVP race is over.”
Embiid went off for 52 points on 20-of-25 shooting to go along with 13 boards, six assists, and two blocks in 39 minutes of action. Wilt Chamberlain is the only other player in NBA history to tally at least 50 points, 10 rebounds, and five assists while shooting at least 80% from the field, according to ESPN Stats & Info.
Tuesday was Embiid’s third 50-point game of the 2022-23 campaign, which trails only Luka Doncic. The 76ers star joins Chamberlain and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar as the only centers to record at least five 50-plus-point contests over their career, per StatMuse.
After Embiid’s latest offensive outburst, he now has 2,162 points on the season. His total output is the most in a single campaign by a center since Shaquille O’Neal recorded 2,344 points during his MVP year in 1999-2000, according to ESPN Stats & Info.
Embiid is on pace to capture his second straight scoring title. The six-time All-Star ranks sixth in blocks (1.7 per game) and seventh in rebounds (10.2).
While Embiid has previously insisted that he’s looking past the MVP, he couldn’t help but agree with his head coach’s assessment.
“They’re probably right. But we have bigger goals in mind,” Embiid said, according to ESPN’s Tim Bontemps.
Philadelphia sits third in the East with a 52-27 record, just two games back of the Celtics for the No. 2 seed.
Both clubs have three contests remaining in the regular season.
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