Philadelphia 76ers: Joel Embiid turns in another Wilt-level performance

Saturday night’s Philadelphia 76ers game was both incredibly inconsequential and incredibly noteworthy.

On one hand, it was a relatively inconsequential interconference contest in the middle of an 82 game season. It didn’t matter all that much in the standings and will likely go down as a mere footnote in the season at large.

But it also marked potentially the final game of the season where Joel Embiid had to be a one-man act, as his new arranged partner in crime, James Harden, is expected to make his debut on Tuesday versus the Boston Celtics. Down two of the team’s regular rotation players, Embiid took it upon himself to give the paying fans in attendance at the Wells Fargo Center a show and put up a stat line not seen by a Sixers player since Wilt Chamberlain all the way back in 1968.

Needless to say, Jarrett Allen is going to hear about this one in the morning.

Joel Embiid is slowly rewriting the Philadelphia 76ers’ record book.

When Joel Embiid threw down an absolute monster dunk that forever captured the soul of borderline All-Star Jarrett Allen Yu-Gi-Oh-style on a poster, fans had to know they were in for something special but goodness, did anyone have a 40 point triple-double on their Saturday night Philadelphia 76ers bingo card?

Considering said accomplishment hasn’t been recorded by a member of the red, white, and blue since Wilt Freakin’ Chamberlin, I’m guessing the answer is a resounding no.

Embiid shouldered roughly 38.8 percent of the team’s offensive burden, facilitated on 10 of the team’s 79 buckets, and led the team in rebounding at 14, which accounted for 35 percent of their overall boards. To call this a team win, while technically correct, isn’t quite fair, as when Embiid was off the court, the Cavs consistently widdled away at the lead, but whenever things got a bit too close for comfort, Doc Rivers called on 21 to turn the tides back in Philly’s favor and over and over again, he did just that.

Dagger 3s? Check, Embiid both made more 3s than any other player on the Sixers or in the game as a whole and attempted nearly a quarter of his team’s attempts – which is alarming but a problem for another day.

How about clutch efforts from the free throw line? Check as well; Embiid attempted 15 free throws and made 14 of them.

And what about momentum-shifting plays? Well, let’s just say those aforementioned posters are already for sale in the Sixers’ team store.

Throw it all together, and what do you have? That’s right, a dominant win by the best player in the darn world.

Friends, we get to live, laugh, and love watch basketball in Joel Embiid’s prime. Tune into any random Philadelphia 76ers game, and with very few exceptions, you will be greeted with a performance so mesmerizing that it forever changes how you watch other teams play the sport. While his regular responsibilities might change ever so slightly once James Harden – and Paul Millsap – finally suit up, on Saturday, February 12th, Joel Hans “The Process” Emniid turned in a signature performance in a season of signature performances and proved why he deserves your vote for league MVP. And hey, if you missed it, fear not, for he will surely turn in another such performance in the next week or two.