By Eurohoops team / info@eurohoops.net
It was a one-man show in Philly, as Philadelphia 76ers’ Joel Embiid crushed Boston Celtics with a 52-point game, strengthening his position in the MVP race in style.
His coach, Doc Rivers, even believes that the MVP race is over after Embiid’s monstrous performance against the Celtics and Nikola Jokic’s struggles against Houston Rockets.
“There’s so many things that we did wrong, but what we did right was Joel Embiid. The MVP race is over. The man just scored half our points in an NBA game. And I’m biased, but the MVP race is over,” Rivers claimed in his post-game comments.
Embiid finished the game shooting 20/24 for two and 12/13 from the free throw line, grabbing 13 rebounds, six assists, and two blocks joining Wilt Chamberlain and Kareem Abdul Jabaar as the only center with at least five games with 50 plus points.
The Cameronian didn’t want to argue with his coach or Sixers teammates stumping on his behalf.
“They’re probably right. But we have bigger goals in mind,” Embiid said.
The MVP favorite Joel Embiid is the NBA’s leading scorer with 33,3 points per game.