Joel Embiid on Wednesday scored a season-high 51 points and grabbed 12 rebounds to accomplish feats unseen for more than half a century as the Philadelphia 76ers beat NBA-best the Minnesota Timberwolves 127-113.
The reigning NBA Most Valuable Player (MVP) sparked the Sixers (19-8) to their seventh victory in eight games and snapped the four-game win streak of the Western Conference-leading Timberwolves, who slipped to 20-6.
Embiid became the first NBA player with 12 consecutive games of 30 or more points and 10 or more rebounds since Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in 1972.
Photo: AFP
He also became the first 76er since Wilt Chamberlain in 1967 with three consecutive games of 40 or more points and 10 or more rebounds.
“He does it every night so consistently,” 76ers guard Tyrese Maxey said of Embiid. “We expect it of him and he goes out there and performs every single night.”
Embiid, the NBA’s top scorer at 34.4 points per game, said the triumph avenged a loss in Minnesota last month when he was unable to play due to a hip injury.
“That’s one of the best teams in the league and the best in the West,” Embiid said. “We felt like we had to get them back and I’m glad everybody just showed up.”
“To start the third quarter, we had some rough patches, but we stuck together and we kept pushing and we got the win,” he said.
The 29-year-old Cameroonian lifted the Sixers to their biggest lead in the final minutes.
Embiid scored 20 points in the first half, 19 more in the third quarter and completed the seventh 50-point performance of his career — and second of the season — on a jumper with 1 minute, 46 seconds remaining.
Embiid made 17 of 25 shots from the floor and 17 of 18 free throws while adding three assists, two steals and a blocked shot in humbling the NBA’s top defensive team and its big men, Rudy Gobert and Karl-Anthony Towns.
Anthony Edwards led Minnesota with 27 points, while Towns had 23 points and 13 rebounds.
Elsewhere, the Boston Celtics took over the NBA’s best record, improving to 21-6 with a 144-119 victory against Sacramento to snap the Kings’ four-game win streak.
The Celtics, without top scorer and rebounder Jayson Tatum due to a left-ankle sprain, were led by 28 points each by Jaylen Brown and Derrick White, while De’Aaron Fox led Sacramento with 29.
The Los Angeles Clippers stretched their win streak to nine games with a 120-111 victory against the Dallas Mavericks as Kawhi Leonard had 30 points and 10 rebounds, and James Harden added 17 points and 11 assists.
Two-time NBA MVP Nikola Jokic scored 31 points and added 15 rebounds and six assists as reigning champions the Denver Nuggets won 113-104 against the Toronto Raptors.
DeMar DeRozan had 27 points, nine assists and seven rebounds to spark the Chicago Bulls over the visiting Los Angeles Lakers 124-108.
Julius Randle scored 26 points and Donte DiVincenzo added 23 to lead the New York Knicks over the Brooklyn Nets 121-102, while reserve Sam Merrill’s 27 points led hosts the Cleveland Cavaliers over the Utah Jazz 124-116.
Trae Young’s 30 points and 14 assists led the Atlanta Hawks’ 134-127 victory against the Houston Rockets, while Tyler Herro had 28 points, eight rebounds and seven assists to spark the Miami Heat’s 115-106 victory against the Orlando Magic.
Buddy Hield scored 25 points and Tyrese Haliburton added 19 points and 13 assists in the Indiana Pacers’ 144-113 home win over the Charlotte Hornets.
Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and partner Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia yesterday advanced to the women’s doubles final at the Australian Open after defeating New Zealand’s Erin Routliffe and Gabriela Dabrowski of Canada 7-6 (7/3), 3-6, 6-3 in their semi-final. Hsieh has won nine Grand Slam doubles titles and has a shot at a 10th tomorrow, when the Latvian-Taiwanese duo are to play Taylor Townsend of the US and Katerina Siniakova of the Czech Republic in the championship match at the A$96.5 million (US$61 million) outdoor hard court tournament at Melbourne Park. Townsend and Siniakova eliminated Russian pair Diana Shnaider and Mirra Andreeva 6-7
Manchester City have reached do-or-die territory in the UEFA Champions League earlier than expected ahead of what Pep Guardiola has described as a “final” against Club Brugge today. City have disproved the suggestion a new format to Europe’s top club competition would remove any jeopardy for the top clubs as Guardiola stares down the barrel of failing to make the Champions League knockout stages for the first time in his career. The English champions have endured a torrid season both in their English Premier League title defense and on the continent. A run of one win in 13 games, which included Champions League
Things are somewhat out of control at the Australian Open this year, and that has only a little to do with the results on the courts. Yes, there were some upsets, including Madison Keys eliminating No. 2 Iga Swiatek in the women’s singles semi-finals on Thursday. It also was the first time since 1990 that three teenagers beat top-10 men’s seeds at a Grand Slam tennis tournament. The loser of one of those matches, Daniil Medvedev, got fined US$76,000 for behaving badly. Last year’s women’s singles runner-up exited in the first round. However, the real fuss is happening elsewhere. The rowdy fans, for one
The CTBC Brothers from Taiwan’s Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL) on Friday announced they reached an agreement with the team’s shortstop Chiang Kun-yu (江坤宇) to extend his contract by 10 years in a deal that could worth up to NT $147.88 million (US$4.5 million). Including a NT$10 million incentive bonus, the 24-year- old’s new contract stipulates that his monthly salary will be NT$660,000 starting this year, increasing to NT$1.2 million from the fifth year of the deal. Chiang’s new agreement also comes with a caveat in the form of a “player option” where he would have the choice to become a free
RSS