In an evening marked by great individual performances (49 points from Desmond Bane, a triple-double in one half for Luka Doncic…), Joel Embiid struck particularly hard with his season record.
The reigning MVP thus completed the match against the Wizards with 50 points, his scoring record for this campaign, at 19/29 shooting. He adds 13 rebounds, 7 assists, but also commits 6 turnovers. This is the sixth time he has reached the 50-point mark, his record having been set at 59 points against Utah.
“Sometimes your team needs you to be a creator, sometimes they need you to score and I felt like it was one of those nights where I had to be aggressive and shoot.”, explains the Cameroonian pivot. “My teammates made passes to me, they made the right plays every time and I just finished them. »
Like Tyrese Maxey did a few weeks ago against the Pacers, also scoring 50 points.
And if Tyrese Maxey joked about the fact that Joel Embiid should have scored 60 points, De'Anthony Melton was amazed by his teammate's ease in stringing together successes, especially at mid-distance.
“He is our safety valve, both offensively and defensively. That's why he's the MVP.”thus describes the rear. “He covers a lot of our defensive mistakes and, offensively, he can get us out of trouble late in the game with a few shots. »
What he did in this match was far from being a walk in the park for the Sixers, because Joel Embiid and his teammates had to accelerate in the fourth quarter, taking advantage in particular of the return of Kelly Oubre Jr, to make the difference against the Wizards who fought, like Bilal Coulibaly (14 points, 3 interceptions).
