On Nov 13, 2022, the Utah Jazz headed to South Philly to face the Philadelphia 76ers. Both teams are coming off a back-to-back. The Jazz come off a loss to the Washington Wizards and the Sixers come off a nice win against the Atlanta Hawks. That Sixers’ win was headlined by a 42-point performance by superstar center Joel Embiid. Embiid has been the runner up for MVP for the past 2 years, losing the award to fellow superstar center Nikola Jokic both times. People expected Embiid to begin the season with a vengeance, but he had a slow start. Of course, it’s still a good start, but by his standards it was disappointing. It was revealed that Embiid was dealing with plantar fasciitis so he couldn’t condition his body well over the summer, which explains why he looked more sluggish than usual. He was also out for 3 games with a non-Covid related illness.

The Sixers got off to a rough start to the season and were 6-7 before the game against Utah. And to add to the bad news for Philly, their star guard James Harden suffered a foot injury and will be out until around early December. So Embiid has to carry the team like he did last year before Harden came. This game against Utah would be a good test; the Jazz were expected to be one of the worst teams in the league but they got off to a red-hot start. They were tied for the 1st seed in the West coming into this game. Their ball movement-based offense and the emergence of Lauri Markkenan has led the Jazz to this start. They looked good against the Sixers, but unfortunately for them Joel Embiid put on one of the best performances in NBA history.

Embiid scored a career high 59 points on 19/28 (68%) and 20/24 from the free throw line, which is already extremely impressive. But he also put up 11 rebounds, 8 assists, and 7 blocks. I’m a Sixers fan and an NBA fan, and this was the best performance I’ve ever seen. I could not believe what he was doing. He almost had a 60-point quadruple double; that should not be possible. He is the first player in NBA history to have at least 50 points, 10 rebounds, 5 assists, 5 blocks. The Jazz had no one big or strong enough to keep up with the 7 feet 280-pound Embiid. Embiid is known as the best post player in the league and he proved it here; Embiid got to his spots at will as he drove and pulled up for his mid-range shots. He scored 26 of his points on 7/8 shooting and 5 of his blocks in the 4th quarter when the Sixers needed him the most. He scored 26/27 points the Sixers had in the 4th quarter and the Sixers won the game 105-98. This game could and has to be the turning point in both the Sixers’ season and Embiid’s season. This has to be the year the Sixers go far and this could be the year Embiid wins the MVP he deserves.