Philadelphia 76ers big man Joel Embiid continues to lift the team on his shoulders and put himself in the MVP conversation. He had 37 points and 11 rebounds and he did it in an efficient way.
He shot 10-for-19 from the floor, he was 16-for-18 from the foul line, and he did it all in just 26:38 of playing time in a win over the Minnesota Timberwolves. The impressive part about it was that he started the game poorly shooting 2-for-10, but he was still able to recover and make sure he was his dominant-self in the second half.
“I just got to do my job,” said Embiid. “We got to win games. The only way to win games is to play defense and score the ball. Tonight, we had a slow start, especially me, but at some point, especially in that third quarter, we locked in on defense and we got some stops. On offense, we scored every time.”
Embiid is now averaging a ridiculous 35.6 points and 10.4 rebounds over his previous five games. He is the first Sixer to average 35 points and 10 rebounds over a span of five games since the great Charles Barkley.
Joel Embiid last 5 games:
35.6 PPG
10.4 RPG
56.0 FG%
42.9 3P%
16.8 FTA/GHe’s the first Sixer to average 35/10 in a 5-game span since Charles Barkley. pic.twitter.com/MGJm5eCajY
— StatMuse (@statmuse) January 30, 2021
“It’s just dominance on his part,” said Tobias Harris. “I think he’s figured it out and he’s done such a good job of creating plays for the guys out of the post. So teams now have to guard him straight up. He’s continuing to figure that out, continue to be dominant out there and it’s a pleasure to be able to be on the floor with him. When he has that demeanor and he’s gone like that, it makes us a really great team.”
Embiid obviously has a long way to go, but he is certainly making his presence felt when it comes to the MVP conversation in the early going. Philadelphia is 14-2 when he does play and they’re 0-4 when he does not.
This post originally appeared on Sixers Wire! Follow us on Facebook!
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