Joel Embiid’s historic season continued on Saturday when he put up 33 points, 10 rebounds and five assists to lead the Philadelphia 76ers past the Charlotte Hornets, 97-89, in a game that won’t be replayed any time soon. With his 20th consecutive 30-point game, Embiid joined Wilt Chamberlain and James Harden in an exclusive club.
Those three stars are the only players in NBA history to have a 30-point streak to reach at least 20 games. It should come as little surprise that Chamberlain owns the all-time record with a remarkable 65 straight games during the 1961-62 season. The Hall of Famer has also pulled off the feat four times — double every other player in NBA history combined.
Embiid wasn’t at his most dominant against the Hornets, in large part due to a stream of double teams, but it says a lot that he shot 11-of-23 from the field and that’s regarded as a poor showing. He did enough to get the Sixers over the line, though, and that’s all that really matters. They’ve now won five games in a row and have pulled to within half a game of the Milwaukee Bucks for the No. 2 spot in the Eastern Conference.
For the season, Embiid is averaging 35 points, 11.4 rebounds, 5.9 assists and 1.9 blocks per game on 53.6% shooting. If it wasn’t for the new 65-game threshold, he would be the runaway favorite to win a second consecutive MVP. As it stands, Embiid is on a 62-game pace and needs to play in 34 of the Sixers’ final 41 games. That is not a huge margin of error, especially given Embiid’s injury history.