Courtside with Aaron is a regular column by Sports Editor Aaron Rigby.
Wilt never did this?” asked a confused Joel Embiid after hearing that he and Michael Jordan were the only players in NBA history to put up 65 points, 15 rebounds and five assists in a single NBA game. “I don’t believe that!” he added.
Embiid and the Philadelphia 76ers hosted the 2023 first overall pick and freak of nature Victor Wembanyama and the San Antonio Spurs on a random Monday night in the middle of January. It was a scheduled win. Coming into the game, the San Antonio Spurs were sitting at the 15th seed in the Western Conference with a record of 8-34, the third worst record in the NBA, ahead of only the Detroit Pistons and the Washington Wizards.
Initially, I had no intention of watching the game. The intrigue of watching Wembanyama play against Embiid for the first time in his career was there, but I wasn’t expecting anything out of the norm from either of them. I was expecting Joel to put up around 30 to 35 points, as he is leading the league in points per game at 36.
However, I do have Embiid on my fantasy team, and I did tune into the game once I noticed that he had scored 24 points in the first quarter. Embiid ended up finishing the first half with 34 points, scoring only 10 in just over seven minutes played in the second quarter. Notably, 12 of those points came from the free throw line, which has caused some controversy amongst NBA fans.
Some have called Embiid a “free throw merchant,” or claimed that his stats are inflated because of the whistle he gets. Junior Jackson Wright, opposes this viewpoint.
“He’s just [so] dominant that the defense can’t stop him,” said Wright. “He’s either gonna score, or they’re going to have no choice but to foul him. And, either way, he is still making the free throws, and not everybody can do that.”
This is a fair and accurate argument to make. First of all, it is true that the only reason he is going to the free throw line in the first place is because that is the only hope that the defense had of containing him. And Embiid has always been an above average free throw shooter, and an amazing one for his size at that. So, shooting 100% from the charity stripe after taking 12 shots is impressive in its own right.
Despite Embiid’s insane first half performance, the team was only leading by four points, which quite honestly was the story of the game. Embiid came out guns blazing in the second half, scoring 25 points with only four of them coming from free throws. This gave him 59 points through three quarters of action. With the record set at 60 points, he was only one point away from tying with Klay Thompson and former teammate James Harden for the most points scored by a single player throughout the first three quarters in NBA history.
At this point in the game, it seemed as if Embiid’s night may have been over, with the Sixers building the lead to 15 points by the end of the third quarter. However, head coach Nick Nurse and the sixers coaching staff believed that the Spurs were still within striking distance, so Embiid entered the game for the final time with about seven minutes remaining in the game.
In just over 5 minutes played, Embiid scored 11 points, five of which came from the free throw line.
He checked out of the game one last time with a little over a minute left in the game, and of course, got a loud standing ovation from the Sixers crowd. Embiid’s monster night comes on a night where many other players had their own monster night. Minnesota Timberwolves center Karl-Anthony Towns scored a career high 62 points on the same night, and Phoenix Suns all-star forward Kevin Durant scored a season-high 43 points, and neither of these accomplishments have been spoken about because Embiid decided to make history on the same night.
Along with being the only player alongside Michael Jordan to score 65 points and put up 15 rebounds and five assists in a single game, he accomplished it all in just 37 minutes played. This is the least amount of minutes it has taken to reach 70 points in NBA history.
While it is good and fun to celebrate Embiid’s historic night, and rightfully so, it is important that Embiid keeps the mindset that none of this stuff matters until the team wins a championship, and I think he will be able to do great things if he maintains this mindset all season — as long as he stays healthy.
