Joel Embiid’s Social Media Post After Career Game vs. Spurs

Although the Philadelphia 76ers were facing the lowest-seeded team in the Western Conference on Monday night, South Philly was buzzing for the matchup, as it featured the first battle between the league’s reigning MVP, Joel Embiid, and the 2023 No. 1 pick, Victor Wembanyama.

This season, Embiid has consistently dominated but has really turned up the intensity when the games are packed with a ton of intrigue. Monday’s matchup against Victor Wembanyama was no different for the big man.

San Antonio has seen its fair share of struggles this season, but it was a true “welcome to the NBA” moment for Wemby, as San Antonio’s defense didn’t have any answers for Embiid’s offensive attack.

The Sixers’ big man started quickly, producing 24 points in 12 minutes. Although he had a slower second quarter with ten points on 3-8 shooting, Embiid picked it right back up in the third quarter, as he scored 25 more points.

When he went to the bench for a breather at the start of the fourth quarter, Embiid had tied his career-high in scoring with 59 points. With the Spurs keeping the game within reach against a shorthanded Sixers squad, Embiid collected another five-minute shift in the fourth quarter.

Joel Embiid’s Social Media Reaction

KOBE!!! 70 Piece pic.twitter.com/1qnYwTfhsB
— Joel Embiid (@JoelEmbiid) January 23, 2024

For the first time in his career, Joel Embiid reached 60 points. He went above and beyond his career-high, and reached the 70-point mark on nearly 60 percent shooting from the field. With that, Embiid broke a Sixers franchise record, surpassing Wilt Chamberlain.

“It was great,” Embiid said after the game. “Obviously, Wilt [Chamberlain] accomplished a lot of things as far as everything — the history of this league and basketball in general. To be in the same conversation, that’s pretty cool. And then they gave me a stat and I was actually surprised that he’s never done that. But it was just a great night. Had it going, I mentioned it a few times, a lot of my teammates are extremely unselfish, and they just kept giving me the ball, and I just finished it.

Ironically, Embiid’s game occurred on the anniversary of one of the NBA’s most dominant single-game performances put together by the late Hall of Famer, Kobe Bryant, who has always been credited as an inspiration to Embiid.

To no surprise, the Sixers’ big man once again paid homage to the late Laker on Monday.