Joel Embiid played the best basketball of his career this season, and the trend continued Wednesday, when the big man gave up 31 points, 11 rebounds and nine assists to lead the Philadelphia 76ers ahead of the Houston Rockets, 118-113. The win unleashed a three-game losing streak for the Sixers and shifted their lead over the Eastern Conference back to 1.5 games.
Although Embiid will be very happy that the team is back on track, it was also a fairly remarkable evening for him on a personal level. It was his 12th consecutive game with at least 25 points, placing him in a class with Allen Iverson and Wilt Chamberlain as the just other Sixers to have such a streak.
Of course, this is a somewhat arbitrary statistic, but the fact that the only other players to pick it up are former MVPs and Hall of Famers illustrates just how historic it was from Embiid. Over this stretch, Embiid is leading the league with 34 points and 10.2 rebounds per game, while shooting 54.3 percent off the field.
Embiid’s performance against the Rockets was a microcosm of everything we’ve seen from him this season. He was dominant in and around the paint, knocking down mid-range jumpers and regularly coming on the free throw. DeMarcus Cousins simply had no answer for Embiid’s variety of movements.
And in the fourth quarter, when the Sixers really needed him, Embiid took over. He smashed a number of paragliders and scored nine of the Sixers ‘last 12 points as they thwarted the Rockets’ return effort.
Embiid has had a sore back since he had a hard fall against the Los Angeles Lakers last month, and it was not even a guarantee that he would fit against the Rockets. After the game, he gave an update and said that his back is ‘fairly tight’ throughout, but that he should be good in the long run. The Sixers will have to hope that is the case, as his history display on Wednesday showed how important he is to their success.