Philadelphia 76ers superstar big man Joel Embiid is doing things on the floor that is worthy of him being an MVP candidate for the 2020-21 season. The Sixers are tied for first in the Eastern Conference and it is mostly due to the play of their big man.
In Tuesday’s win over the Boston Celtics, the big fella went for 35 points and six rebounds. The impressive part about the win was the fact that he just kept marching to the free-throw line and doing some impressive things on that end.
He shot 20 free throws on Tuesday, making 16 of them, and he was a main reason why Boston’s Robert Williams III fouled out of the game. The Celtics had to send plenty of defenders towards him to try and slow him down, but it was to no avail.
With the 20 free throws, Embiid is now averaging a robust 11.8 free-throw attempts per game. The only centers to average more free throws per game in a season are the great Shaquille O’Neal and Wilt Chamberlain. O’Neal averaged 13.1 free throws in the 2000-01 season and Chamberlain averaged more than 11.8 free throws eight times in his career.
Joel Embiid is averaging 11.8 free throws per game this season.
Only 2 centers have averaged more in a season in NBA history — Shaquille O’Neal and Wilt Chamberlain. pic.twitter.com/74eNbmyULd
— StatMuse (@statmuse) April 7, 2021
The difference with Embiid, however, is that he is shooting those free throws at a high clip. He is shooting them at 84.9% which is much better than both O’Neal and Chamberlain. The big fella is not wasting any opportunities at the line, though he was upset that he missed four of his 20 free throws on Tuesday.
This post originally appeared on Sixers Wire! Follow us on Facebook!
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