2023-2024 Sixers Season

[zambonir]

franchise record

[bkox]

Embiid's final line -- 70 points, 15 rebounds and 5 assists -- has never been done before in NBA history, according to ESPN's Stats & Information research.

Joel Embiid became the ninth player in NBA history to score at least 70 points in a game. He's the first player to reach that total in under 39 minutes.

[phillychuck]

18 rebounds.

[zambonir]

Right, not, his final line but nobody has ever scored 70 while also having at least 15/5 (and so also not 16, 17 or 18 and 5 either).

[phillychuck]

I thought that might be what you meant. Didn't want to shortchange Jo on the boards, since he was a real monster there last night.

[VoteForKalas]

Incredible, never thought I'd see someone pass Iverson much less Chamberlain in my lifetime.

Bottle that production for the playoffs.

Crazy to see we only won by 10 pts...defense must have stunk on ice

[zambonir]

Don't think we can play the Spurs in the playoffs alas.

And Wemby only played 28 minutes (his limit for about a month since banging up his ankle). Still scored 33 but obviously nobody was slowing down the Sixers.

[phillychuck]

The defense was spotty, and the shooting was below average other than Joel. We had some bad luck with loose balls and, of course, Melton, PatBev, Covington, Morris, Springer, and Bamba all were out, so Kork, House, and KJ Martin all played a decent amount. The actual final margin really doesn't reflect that for most of the 4th quarter they were up between 15 and 20.

[zambonir]

It's the kind of game you'd like to see Jayson Stark tackle (since he did football recently). But here's Aldridge with some of the context:

Aldridge: Joel Embiid's 70 took the NBA back to unprecedented heights

Embiid became just the ninth player in the history of the league to score 70 or more points in a game. Think of that. In this league, today, with teams putting up a buck-forty seemingly every night, only eight other players have reached Embiid’s individual heights.

To wit: Michael Jordan never scored 70 in a game. Neither did Larry Bird, or Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, or LeBron James, or Jerry West.

Wilt did. Six times! And until Monday, he held the franchise scoring record for both of Philadelphia’s NBA franchises, the Warriors and the Sixers. Wilt’s epic 100-point game in 1962 came as a member of the Philadelphia Warriors, which moved to San Francisco the following season. The 76ers came into being in 1963, when new owners moved the former Syracuse Nationals to the City of Brotherly Love. Chamberlain returned to Philly, and came to the 76ers, in a 1964 trade with the Warriors.

None of the other seven players who’d done it before Monday– Kobe, David Thompson, Damian Lillard, Donovan Mitchell, David Robinson, Elgin Baylor and Devin Booker – ever did it twice.

[schillingfan]

Joel plays so much better with Maxey as his wing man. The trade was addition by subtraction I think. The team seems so much more cohesive. Tobias Harris looks more involved. Also Joel is playing less minutes because Paul Reed is playing much better and the the bench guys hold their own when Joel is out of the game. Last year they wold4eqlly fall behind.

Joel was unstoppable last night. By the last five minutes they were just feeding him everything. He got his 70th point being handed the ball to just take down the court and do whatever, which in this case was a drive to the basket.

In other words talk is Doc Rives is going to coach Milwaukee since they fired their coach today. They are welcome to him. Apparently they think he will help their bad defense, which he might.

[zambonir]

The idea of Nurse outcoaching Doc in the playoffs - as most coaches do - is certainly enticing to Sixers fans.

There had to be something off about Adrian Griffin. They'd brought in Terry Stotts to be one of his assistants (and, presumably because he was close to Lillard) and then Stotts quit in training camp. Supposedly Griffin felt Stotts was overstepping his role (i.e. trying to be the head coach). It seems the Bucks didn't trust him to begin with and maybe were correct not to but either way they botched the hire.

[xogfog]

Embiid out with knee soreness tonight, Sixers lose to Denver. I'm okay with Embiid not winning the MVP if he doesn't meet the threshold of games started, even though he is playing like the obvious MVP. I'd rather not see him running on fumes in the playoffs. Maxey was also a scratch tonight, so that was one of those "scheduled loss" games. B-Ball Paul had a career night with 30/13.

[phillychuck]

Embiid banged knees with Miles Turner two nights ago and was obviously hurt. The narrative that he's ducking Denver is ridiculous.

Maxey has a sprained ankle, Harris is sick, Melton's back is still not right, Covington's knee may be so bad his career is over, and Embiid clearly banged his already hurt knee. Why would you play him? And why would he himself choose to sit (ducking them) when he averages 40 points per game against them? It was a team decision.

[xogfog]

And they still only lost by single digits!

[zambonir]

At this point the problem isn't that Joel might be "on fumes" or not well-conditioned by playoff time. He always ends up having a tangible injury, or suffering a new one, and since he already gets hurt in December and January there's no reason to think it will be any less likely in April

The hubub is understandable given he wasn't on the injury report and has now missed four straight games in Denver. The trash talk about it is really respect - disappointment because those fans want to see him play,

[bigegypt0417]

This is really the equation that faces the sixers...you can keep trying to build a team around Embiid or decide it's time to go in a different direction. Embiid brings back something you may not get for many players these days...unprotected first round picks. I'm not really sure what his value is these days but i would imagine a team with a center that can minimize his minutes would make the leap.

[zambonir]

I just can't see them doing it... unless he also wants out and they're on the same page rather than it turning ugly.

If they don't get any closer after two more kicks at the can, then it might be over. Certainly won't happen in-season this time.

[zambonir]

Embiid set for MRI after exiting with knee injury

[zambonir]

Here's what I'm wondering. You can obviously cherry-pick the criteria in answering this question, but has there ever been a 7'0", 275 pound+ NBA player who had a truly successful/healthy career, let alone at the MVP and championship level? I think Shaq might be the only one, and he certainly had a lot of abbreviated seasons (and perhaps just as crucially, was never the unquestioned #1 player on his championship teams).

Hakeem, Duncan and David Robinson were all lighter and/or shorter (in fact if not for Hakeem you could set the threshold at 250 lbs). Jokic is huge but still listed at 6'11". The Yao Mings and Greg Odens and Sam Bowies and Shaun Bradleys just seem more common. We're always asking what the Sixers and Joel can do to keep him healthier and more available but it's always been built-in that he was more likely to be chronically or permanently injured than not. Heck, he wouldn't even be a Sixer if he'd been healthy from the get-go!

[Docs]

The NBA investigated the sixers for sitting Joel against Denver, and he sat the next game. I feel like they pressured the sixers to play their star, and now he’s getting an MRI. NBAs money problem is not going to help keep big men healthy. Duncan used to get in season game management and the NBA set policies about when you can rest players so that fans can get what they paid for. Now even more fans won’t get what they paid for because he needs extended time off. Great system.