The San Antonio Spurs walked into Wells Fargo Center on Monday night expecting a battle. The Philadelphia 76ers are the third-best team in the Eastern Conference and have one of the best players in the league in reigning MVP Joel Embiid. But what they didn’t account for is one of the best performances in NBA history.
Embiid put up a franchise-record 70 points in the contest to go along with 18 rebounds, five assists, one steal, and one block while shooting 24-of-41 from the floor and 1-of-2 from behind the three-point line. It was an incredible effort for the big man as he absolutely dominated the Spurs.
After the game, superstar rookie Victor Wembanyama shared some thoughts on Embiid after his 70-point night.
“It would have been more fun in a win, of course, but it’s inspiring, especially offensively,” Wembanyama said via ESPN.
The Spurs kept the game relatively close, losing just 133-123 in spite of Embiid’s amazing game, and Wembanyama played fairly well himself.
Wembanyama put up 33 points, seven rebounds, two assists, and two blocks while shooting 10-of-19 from the floor and 2-of-5 from behind the three-point line.
Embiid had some high praise for the rookie after the contest.
“He’s great, man,” Embiid said. “He’s got everything, size, skill, got everything. Bright future. He’s already pretty good. Once he develops, he’s going to be a lot of problems for a lot of guys in this league.”
The Spurs may not have been able to bring home the victory, but when someone is scoring 70 points, it’s usually going to be pretty tough to win.
[lawrence-auto-related count=3]