Joel EmbiidTuesday night’s performance against the celts it only strengthened the dominant big man’s grip on the 2023 NBA MVP award.
Embiid led the way scoring a game-high 52 points in the 76ers‘ 103-101 victory. The seventh-year center filled the stat sheet, grabbing 13 rebounds and dishing out six assists.
The explosive outing was good enough for Philadelphia head coach Doc Rivers to declare that there are questions about who is the best player in the league this season.
“The MVP race is over,” Rivers said on the podium after the game. “The man just scored half our points in an NBA game. And I’m biased, but the MVP race is over.”
"MVP careers are over."
Doc Rivers with strong praise for Joel Embiid after his 52 point performance against the Celtics 👀
(through @NBATV)pic.twitter.com/sQwxmIQM7M
— Sports Illustrated (@SInow) April 5, 2023
The dominating performance was Embiid’s third 50-point game this season. Previously, the six-time NBA All-Star scored 59 points against Utah on November 13 and set fire to the hornets for 53 on December 11.
With just three games remaining in the regular season, sportsbooks agree with Rivers as sportsbooks Tuesday night moved Embiid to a prohibitive -550 favorite over Denver’s Nikola Jokic (+600 ) and Giannis Antetokounmpo of Milwaukee (+750).