Joel Embiid’s 59-point recreation made for some unimaginable historical past

The Philadelphia 76ers – a group that after felt preordained for a deep postseason run – have had an uneven begin to their 2022-23 season. A mixture of accidents and poor offensive execution left the group beneath .500 by means of 13 video games.

Nonetheless, issues could also be turning round for Philly after a formidable win over the shocking Utah Jazz that evened their file to a clear 7-7. Their victory was powered, largely, by a herculean efficiency from the participant who has been on the middle of many of those criticisms (ha, get it), Joel Embiid.

Embiid, just like the 76ers as an entire, got here into the season with quite a lot of expectations. After being the runner-up in final 12 months’s MVP race, many anticipated Embiid to clinch the title for himself this 12 months.

Sadly, for quite a lot of causes, his MVP push hasn’t gotten off the bottom within the method many would have anticipated. However Sunday’s efficiency could also be Embiid’s manner of saying that his marketing campaign is in full drive. And boy, did he put himself on the map.

In a hair lower than 37 minutes of motion, Embiid mounted a statline of 59 factors, eleven rebounds, eight assists, seven blocks, and one steal. He achieved these numbers whereas capturing 67.9% from the ground (28 makes an attempt) and 83.3% from the free throw line (24 makes an attempt), amassing a real capturing proportion of 76.5%.

He was certainly one of two 76ers to attain in double figures and the one one to surpass the 20-point mark.

Embiid’s masterpiece in opposition to Utah wasn’t simply the very best efficiency of the early season, however perhaps one of many finest common season performances of all-time.

Through the use of John Hollinger’s Sport Rating metric, we are able to get an thought of how nicely gamers carry out on a single-game foundation. In accordance with that measurement, Embiid’s efficiency on Sunday constitutes the seventh-highest common season Sport Rating output in NBA historical past.

Much more attention-grabbing, discover the names which can be forward of him. Of the 5 gamers forward of Embiid, solely certainly one of them (Karl Malone) is categorized by Basketball Reference as a Energy Ahead or Middle (aka a “huge man”).

Trying even additional down the all-time listing on this statistic, you see that Embiid owns two of the ten finest common season performances by a “huge man” in league historical past.

Will Embiid use this iconic efficiency to spring his MVP campaign into excessive gear? That’s to be determined. However one factor is for sure, final night time, we witnessed one of many biggest particular person performances in league historical past.