After completing what was, both in its statistical measure and in the overall quality of his play, a performance as good or better than any in the 60-year history of the 76ers, Joel Embiid lounged at his locker in the Wells Fargo Center, his feet submerged in a bucket of ice and water, his legs peeking out of the slosh as if they were giant bottles of celebratory champagne.
His box score line Sunday night, in the Sixers’ 105-98 victory over the Utah Jazz, had been so wild that one might have thought a child had been fiddling with the official scorer’s computer keys: 59 points on just 28 shots from the field, 20-of-24 from the free-throw line, 11 rebounds, eight assists, seven blocked shots. “I’ve never seen a more dominating performance when you look at both offense and defense,” Sixers coach Doc Rivers said.
If anything, though, the timeliness of his finest moments of the night had been more impressive. In the fourth quarter, for instance, Embiid scored 26 of the Sixers’ 27 points. But his best sequence came on defense, when, with just less than three minutes left in regulation, he protected a two-point lead by helping on a pick-and-roll set by the Jazz, coming out of nowhere to block Lauri Markkanen’s attempt at a driving left-handed layup. The only way he might have improved upon his night would have been if he had sunk the turnaround three-pointer he took in the game’s final minute, with the win in hand.
