Philadelphia 76ers star Joel Embiid is one of the best players in the game and he proved that again on Wednesday night when he dropped 40 points and 19 rebounds in a win over the Utah Jazz at home. The big fella was great all night long and he even drilled a tough triple to force overtime.
He did this against former Defensive Player of the Year Rudy Gobert and he did a great job of protecting the basket every time the Jazz drove into the paint. Embiid had a huge rejection of Gobert late to keep the team alive as he made a statement in this one.
Embiid is in the running for the MVP award as he has put the Sixers on his back all season, but the Defensive Player of the Year award is more important to the 5-year veteran out of Kansas.
“When I came in the league, I never thought I would be that good offensively,” said Embiid. “I always focused on the differences and that’s always been my goal to win it may have been nice to do it. That’s been my focus and coming into the league and obviously, the scoring and the offensive side has taken over.”
While that specific individual award is what pushes him to become one of the best defenders in the league, he knows that he will not be considered for anything individual unless the Sixers start winning games. Embiid being able to lead the team to these wins is going to gain him notoriety for these individual awards.
“What motivates me is to win the game,” he explained. “Without winning, you’re not part of those conversations when it comes to Defensive Player of the Year, MVP, and all that stuff so that’s the first thing. I want to win. That’s all I care about and the past is the past. It’s unfortunate the way things happened last year when I wasn’t on there. It plays a huge role in my mentality this year. Just wanting to destroy everything in my path.”
Embiid has certainly done that this season throwing the Sixers on his back and he’s a big reason why Philadelphia heads into the All-Star break as the 1 seed in the Eastern Conference. On top of that, their latest win over the Jazz is an impressive one considering it was over the team with the best record in the league.
“I keep going back to the same thing, you can’t be in those conversations without winning,” he finished. “Right now we’re winning. We’re first in the East and we just beat the best team in the league. I’ve got a bunch of great teammates, that are doing a great job, you see Tobias (Harris). That’s why I’ve been pushing for him to be an All-Star. As a team, we just play all together, we move the ball, and we defend well.”
For Embiid, he will now head to Atlanta and compete in the All-Star game on Sunday. Then, he will return to Philadelphia ready to lead this team to what they hope will be a deep run into the playoffs and a chance at a championship.
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