In what has felt like the tightest MVP race in at least recent memory (who knows if the voting will actually reflect that), Joel Embiid, who has already emerged as the betting favorite over Nikola Jokic and Giannis Antetokounmpo, might've sealed the hardware with a 52-point masterpiece in the 76ers' 103-101 victory over Boston on Tuesday.
Doc Rivers certainly feels as though this is the case.
"We did so many things wrong, but what we did right was Joel Embiid," Rivers said. "The MVP race is over. Really. The man just scored half our points. In an NBA game."
Dp the math, and Rivers is actually underselling Embiid, who scored more than half of Philly's points. And he did it on 20-of-25 shooting. Add in 13 rebounds and six dimes, and, Embiid becomes just the second player in history to record 50 points, 10 rebounds and five assists on 80% shooting in a single game, per CBS Sports research.
Wilt Chamberlain, go figure, did it twice, the most recent being in 1968 when he put up an insane 53-32-14 line on 24-of-29 shooting. Embiid also joins Chamberlain and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar as the only centers in history to record three 50-point games in the same season.
The most important number: The Sixers outscored Boston by 17 points with Embiid on the floor, meaning they lost the minutes he didn't play by 15. That's MVP impact, although if you want to make the focus on-off splits, Jokic would probably be in poised to win his third straight.
That's almost certainly not going to happen, however. It really does feel like Embiid, if he wasn't going to win anyway after finishing second to Jokic the last two years, had his Heisman moment with this showing. This kind of performance, at this stage of the race and season, is going to stick in voters' minds. Rivers is right. This MVP race is almost certainly over.
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