Ninth NBA star with 70 points
Embiid shines on the anniversary of the Kobe Bryant gala
January 23, 2024, 6:26 a.m
After the game ends, Joel Embiid gets a cold shower from his teammates. Before that, the Philadelphia 76ers superstar was running hot and scored 70 points against the San Antonio Spurs. He achieves this extraordinary achievement on a special day.
Joel Embiid has entered an extremely exclusive circle of NBA players with a 70-point gala. Last season’s MVP in the North American professional basketball league is only the ninth player to achieve such a feat in an NBA game. In his Philadelphia 76ers’ 133:123 win against the San Antonio Spurs, the 29-year-old converted 24 of his 41 throws from the field and was successful 21 times in 23 attempts from the free throw line. The Cameroonian also managed a strong 18 rebounds.
Only Wilt Chamberlain, David Robinson, David Thompson, Elgin Baylor, Kobe Bryant, Donovan Mitchell, Devin Booker and Damian Lillard had previously achieved at least 70 points in an NBA game. Chamberlain holds the record; on March 2, 1962, the legendary center scored exactly 100 points for the Philadelphia Warriors (now Golden State Warriors) against the New York Knicks. He is also the only player to score 70+ points multiple times, a total of six times.
The closest thing to Chamberlain is Bryant, on January 22, 2006, the Los Angeles Lakers icon scored 81 points against the Toronto Raptors – 18 years to the day before Embiid’s gala. “Kobe has been my role model since I started playing basketball,” Embiid said. “He’s the reason I started. It’s funny that he got 81 on the same day and was my favorite player.” Dirk Nowitzki’s “German record” is 53 points, set on December 2, 2004 in the Dallas Mavericks’ Texas derby against the Houston Rockets.
“It feels good,” said Embiid, who had 24 points after the first quarter, praising his “extremely unselfish” teammates: “I was hot and they just gave me the ball and made sure I got in the best positions.” Sixers coach Nick Nurse emphasized that the combination of size and skill is what makes the 7-foot-1 Embiid so good. “He can score in so many ways,” Nurse said: “His sheer size gives him a lot of things around the basket and a lot of free throws.”
In good old NBA tradition, Embiid was doused with cold water during the post-game interview to cool him down – after all, he was pretty hot in terms of scoring beforehand. Karl-Anthony Towns also showed a similarly strong performance, the Minnesota Timberwolves center gave the Charlotte Hornets 62 points: 21/35 from the field, 10/15 from the three-point line, plus 10/14 free throws. But it wasn’t enough to win. The Hornets won 128:125 thanks to a strong final spurt. The fact that two NBA professionals, him and Embiid, scored at least 60 points in one day was only the fourth time in the history of the best basketball league in the world.