In The Post: Sixers Avoid Season Sweep with Win Over Celtics
A much-needed win for the Philadelphia 76ers on Tuesday night, dropping the visiting Boston Celtics, 103-101. The game was closer than it needed to be in the end, but the Sixers simply had to have a victory over…
PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA – APRIL 04: Joel Embiid #21 of the Philadelphia 76ers blocks Jayson Tatum #0 of the Boston Celtics during the third quarter at Wells Fargo Center on April 04, 2023 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
(Photo by Tim Nwachukwu/Getty Images)A much-needed win for the Philadelphia 76ers on Tuesday night, dropping the visiting Boston Celtics, 103-101. The game was closer than it needed to be in the end, but the Sixers simply had to have a victory over their division rival for their psyche in the event that they face off in the playoffs – avoiding a sweep was necessary. And their franchise player made sure that it happened.
Here’s what stood out:
- Joel Embiid came out on a mission following the loss to Milwaukee on Sunday night. With the game being broadcasted nationally, Embiid went off for a first-half double-double of 24 points and 10 rebounds. 18 of which were in the first quarter. For a time, it looked like he would drop 30 by halftime. That's how easy things looked for him. The MVP candidate finished with another fantastic performance. 52 points (20-25 FG, 12-13 FT), 13 rebounds, six assists, and two blocked shots. All but solidifying his first MVP award.
- After the game, head coach Doc Rivers said as much – “The MVP race is over. I’m really, like tonight we had, we couldn’t make shots. We had guys making shots. Would open shots. The man just scored half our points in an NBA game. And I’m biased, but the MVP race is over.” He’s right
- Malcolm Brogdon came off the bench for 13 first-half points for the Celtics, having his way again against the Sixers' defense. Philadelphia is going to have to figure out how to defend Brogdon off the bench if they see them at some point in the playoffs. His 18 points outscored the entire Sixers bench with 10, Jalen McDaniels netted eight with Paul Reed adding two.
- Tyrese Maxey had his second consecutive off night when facing the Celtics. He scored just five points on 2 for 8 shooting from the floor. Maxey was also 1 for 4 from the three-point line. In the four matchups against Boston, the electric guard has been far from that versus their division opponent – after scoring 21 in the season opener at Boston, Maxey has contributed 19 total (6, 8, and 5) over those three games. This must be figured out should they face off in round two of the Eastern Conference playoffs in a few weeks. Tobias Harris had an identical shooting line in this game as Maxey. Something to keep tucked away for the postseason.
Next up for the Sixers will be the Miami Heat at The Center on Thursday night with three games remaining on the regular season schedule.
Devon Givens- 5 Reasons Joel Embiid Will Still Win MVP
This entire thing about the NBA’s 2022-23 Most Valuable Player race is really starting to get out of hand. The final three contestants are no longer up for debate. Most agree that it will come down to reigning back-to-back winner in Denver’s Nikola Jokic, another two-time winner in Milwaukee’s Giannis Antetokounmpo and the runner-up to Jokic the last two seasons in Philadelphia’s Joel Embiid. The discourse of why one is better than the other has been interesting to sit back and listen to. While each player's game is torn apart to make a case for the player one believes should be the eventual winner. The one player who seems to have the most negative talk thrown his way for why he shouldn’t top the others is the only one not to win the award – Embiid.
Before Monday night's game in Denver, it appeared that the six-time All-Star was in the lead to win his first MVP with eight games to play. But because Embiid didn’t suit up against Jokic for their rematch from January 28th in Philadelphia where Embiid got the best of Jokic, he’s no longer the favorite to win. How? This makes zero sense. How does one game determine that he has lost the advantage? Insane! With that said...
Let's get to five reasons why he’ll still capture his first Most Valuable Player award:
Has Been Mostly healthy
The first reason that’s brought up of why Embiid has been left trophyless is because he hasn’t been able to stay healthy during the regular season and play enough games to qualify. Well... the big fella has played 61 of a possible 75 games with seven left to play to get him to 68 during an 82-game schedule. While playing in these games, he’s been on a tear – leading the league in scoring at 33.3 points per game while jostling with Mavericks star Luka Doncic for the scoring crown. If Embiid were to win, it would be his second consecutive scoring title – all done at the center position.
Dominates Head to Head Matchups
In head-to-head matchups against Jokic and Antetokounmpo, Embiid has a 3-1 record and put on a show against Jokic in arguably his best game as a pro. The stat line read like this on that January afternoon – 47 points (18-31 FG, 4-7 3FG), 18 rebounds, five assists, three steals and two blocked shots in just under 38 minutes played. And that was done in front of all of the basketball world to see, with many declaring that he had taken the MVP lead after that outstanding performance. No drop-off in his play – only elevating.
It is Embiid's Time
In situations like this, players get to a point when its simply their “time” – it might be Embiid’s “time.” Jokic and Antetokounmpo have both won the award twice, while the Sixers’ center has been good enough to win it but fallen short for various reasons. Sure, the other two are worthy of it every season – they all are. But it has the feel of it finally being Embiid’s year.
The Sixers are Rolling
The team has been rolling with the best record in the NBA since December 9th. On that date, Philadelphia was 12-12 with no real direction of where the team was headed. Fueled by Embiid’s January Eastern Conference Player of the Month and back-to-back Eastern Conference Player of the Week awards in early March, the 76ers sport a 37-13 record since then as we get ready to head into the playoffs. He has missed just six games since December 9th. The Sixers have had a lot of contributions from others, but we know how this works.
Not Doing Anything to Lose it
Let’s make this one really simple... Embiid hasn’t done anything to lose it and neither of the other two players have done anything superhuman to wrestle it away while he continues to also play at an extremely high level.
