Sixers vs Jazz: Joel Embiid makes history and scores 59 points to power Philadelphia past Utah
CNN
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Joel Embiid produced arguably the greatest performance of his career to inspire the Philadelphia 76ers to a 105-98 victory over the surprising Utah Jazz on Sunday.
The 28-year-old flirted with a quadruple-double, scoring a monstrous 59 points – over half his team’s total – while adding 11 rebounds, eight assists and seven blocked shots.
It was a dominant display that wrote his name into the NBA record books as he became the only player to score 50 points, 10 boards, five rebounds, five assists and five blocks in a single game, since blocks became an official statistic in 1973.
His astonishing performance also marked the fifth best scoring performance in 76ers franchise history, behind only Wilt Chamberlain – who holds the top three spots – and Allen Iverson.
“Those are two legends that played here and that I respect a lot,” Embiid told reporters after the game.
“To be in that company means a lot, but I still got a long way to go.”
It marks an unprecedented weekend for Embiid who also scored 42 points in the Sixers’ win over the Atlanta Hawks on Saturday.
His demolition job is all the more impressive considering he was recovering from an illness last week.
“My teammates knew who had the hot hand and they just had to feed me,” a humble Embiid said, thanking his team for the support.
An impressive fourth-quarter underlined just how dominant Embiid was feeling on Sunday, as he scored 26 out of his team’s 27 points.
“I’ve never seen a more dominating performance when you combine defense and offense,” 76ers coach Doc Rivers told reporters.
Embiid will have the opportunity to continue his ridiculous scoring run against the Milwaukee Bucks and their NBA-best record on Friday after some much needed rest.
When asked what he thought of Embiid’s current form, teammate Tyrese Maxey put it perfectly.
“Joel Embiid is very good at basketball,” he told reporters after Sunday’s game.
