Joel Embiid leads the Philadelphia 76ers against the San Antonio Spurs with a career-high 70 points.
PHILADELPHIA (AP) – On Monday night, Joel Embiid led the Philadelphia 76ers to a 133-123 victory over the San Antonio Spurs, setting a franchise record with 70 points—the most in the NBA this season.
Embiid recorded a career-high 18 rebounds as well. He made 21 of 23 free throws and was 24 of 41 from the field, including 1 of 2 from 3-point range. With 1:41 remaining, he made a layup to surpass Hall of Famer Wilt Chamberlain’s 76ers record of 68 points, which was set on December 16, 1967.
When Chamberlain hit the NBA record with 100 points, he was a player for the Philadelphia Warriors.
Embiid, the current MVP of the league and a six-time All-Star has scored 30 points or more in 21 straight games. The 76ers are on a six-game winning streak.
In the first meeting between the 7-footers, rookie Victor Wembanyama finished with 33 points and seven rebounds in 29 minutes of play. The Spurs, who are rebuilding, lost 5-19 away from home.
Embiid claimed that facing Wembanyama each night gave him more motivation for his goal.
“That’s my mindset every single game, but I wouldn’t sit here and lie to you,” Embiid said in the post-game interview on the local TV broadcast. “My mindset is to attack, dominate offensively and defensively, so tonight was no different.”
After three quarters, Embiid had tied his career best of 59 points and returned to the game with 6:38 remaining and Philadelphia up 118-104. The 76ers were giving him the ball whenever possible as they were closing in on the record. 49ers supporters brave the wind and rain during the playoff matchup with the Packers.
Obviously he can score in so many ways, just his sheer size gets him a lot of stuff around the basket, gets him a lot of free throws,” 76ers coach Nick Nurse said. “The shooting touch is the skill part. The way he moves, the skill he has, the size he is, and he gets motivated like that, anything can happen I guess.”
Giannis Antetokounmpo had the previous highest game in the NBA this season with 64 points.
All eyes were on Embiid and Wembanyama from even before the first tip when fans lined the court to watch the Spurs’ French phenom in warmups. The home fans already know what Embiid can do, and Philadelphia’s star might have wanted to make sure they didn’t forget.
Before the game, Nurse stated, “It will be intriguing for all of us to watch for the first time.
Perhaps a better adjective would have been electrifying.
“It would have been more fun in a win, of course, but it’s inspiring, especially offensively,” Wembanyama stated. Preview of Timberwolves vs. Hornets: tickets, radio, TV station, injury report
In the 1:11 mark of the game, Embiid made a 13-footer over Wembanyama. With 6:27 remaining in the first quarter, the Spurs rookie made two 3-pointers in a span of 27 seconds, followed by an alley-oop dunk, before being sent to the bench for two fouls.
Before the game, Spurs coach Gregg Popovich made light of the fact that his team’s strategy against Embiid was to “hammer his (butt).” I instructed Wemby to simply toss him through the rim after backing him down over it.”
However, it was immediately apparent that nothing would work. Embiid scored 24 points in the first quarter on 8 of 12 shots.
UP NEXT SPURS: On Wednesday night, they host Oklahoma City.
76ers: This Thursday night at Indiana.