Joel Embiid continues to trend on a path to a second consecutive Most Valuable Player award as the Philadelphia 76ers enter Friday’s home game against the Toronto Raptors.
Embiid scored a season-best 51 points and grabbed 12 rebounds to propel the Philadelphia 76ers past the Minnesota Timberwolves 127-113 on Wednesday.
Embiid’s 51 points represented his fifth straight game with at least 35, tying a franchise record previously set by Wilt Chamberlain and Allen Iverson. It was also Embiid’s 12th consecutive game with at least 30 points and 10 rebounds, the longest streak since Kareem Abdul-Jabbar did it 16 straight times in 1971-72.
As a result, the Sixers have been winning consistently and will look for their eighth win in nine games when they face the Raptors.
“You’re seeing something pretty cool right now, right in front of us,” said Sixers coach Nick Nurse, who will be facing Toronto for the first time after departing as coach after five seasons, including winning the 2019 NBA Finals.
While Embiid has been taking a plethora of jump shots, the key to his success has been getting to the basket and attacking.
“We got to get the ball to the paint, get easy ones,” Embiid said. “I think that’s really been the change this year. Any chances that I get just trying to get to the paint as much as possible and then everything else is going to open up.”
Tyrese Maxey also had a stellar all-around game with 35 points to complete a one-two punch with the reigning MVP.
“I was just trying to be aggressive,” Maxey said. “They were trying to play it where we couldn’t pocket pass to Joel sometimes so I got a few turnovers that way and I had to keep them honest.”
De’Anthony Melton sustained a left thigh contusion and didn’t play the second half against the Timberwolves. Melton’s status is unclear for Friday.
The Raptors will look to rebound following a 113-104 loss to the Denver Nuggets on Wednesday.
Scottie Barnes led the Raptors with 30 points and 10 rebounds while Pascal Siakam added 18 points.
It was not nearly enough to offset Nikola Jokic’s 31 points and 15 rebounds.
Still, Barnes was active and continued to prove his mettle for the Raptors.
“He did a great job. He was the one guy that first half that had energy and he was really fighting there,” Toronto coach Darko Rajakovic said. “We were flat in the first half. I thought we won the second half but against this type of team, you gotta have respect for them from the jump ball, but we gotta have respect for ourselves from the jump ball and our energy was, for whatever reason, was not there.
“We’ve got to be much better.”
The Raptors came out a bit sluggish and trailed by as many as 21 points.
Toronto did close within 96-91 when Precious Achiuwa knocked down a 3-pointer with 6:06 remaining. The deficit proved to be too much to overcome.
“That’s on us as players, we just gotta find a way to accomplish that,” Achiuwa said. “I don’t know what type of motivation you need, but we gotta do something to play 48 minutes of intense basketball. I can’t give you a logical reason right now. I honestly don’t have an answer to that question. It’s one of those things you don’t really have an answer to.”
–Field Level Media