Getty Jayson Tatum of the Boston Celtics, Joel Embiid of the Philadelphia 76ers
Among those who took notice of Joel Embiid‘s 52-point performance when the Philadelphia 76ers beat the Boston Celtics was Jayson Tatum, who praised Embiid for his role in helping the Sixers beat their division rival on April 4.
“I mean, s***, I wasn’t guarding him, but he had a good game, obviously,” Tatum said during his postgame press conference. “He willed his team to a victory.”
Much like Embiid, Tatum has also been widely considered to be an MVP candidate throughout this season, although it appears Embiid has more of an inside track to win the award, as he is currently at minus-250 to win the award, according to BetMGM.com. Tatum, by comparison, is at plus-12500.
Embiid’s performance helped the Sixers avoid a season sweep at the hands of the Celtics. The Celtics and Sixers have also locked in their playoff seeding as the no. 2 and no. 3, thus giving them a chance to meet up in the Eastern Conference Semifinals. Were that to happen, it would be the third matchup between the two since both Embiid and Tatum joined their respective teams.
Joel Embiid Called Out By Grant Williams
After the Sixers beat the Celtics, Celtics forward Grant Williams complained about what he believed to be unfair treatment by the referees, singling out Embiid and PJ Tucker.
“So that moment where I got hit in the face twice, I said, ‘Call the f***ing foul,’” Williams told Jay King of The Athletic. “And next thing you know I got a technical. So I got a technical for that. And the following possession P.J. says, ‘Call the f***ing push-off.’ No technical foul. Later in the game, after Joel throws me across the face on the out-of-bounds play, no review of a flagrant, no review of nothing. Then he proceeds to say, ‘How the f— do you call a foul on me in that position? That’s not a f***ing foul.’ And no technical foul. So it was like, okay, did I do something different from the other guys that led to me getting a technical foul? Or is it one of those things where I just need to shut up and dribble?”
Williams’ technical that late in the game – one minute and 58 seconds left – made all the difference as the Sixers won by two points since Embiid hit the technical free throw following the call.
Doc Rivers Declares MVP Race as Over
During his postgame press conference, Sixers head coach Doc Rivers used Embiid’s performance against the Celtics as evidence of the MVP race being finished. Although, at the same time, Rivers used Embiid’s performance to criticize the Sixers’ performance as a team.
“There’s so many things that we did wrong, but what we did right was Joel Embiid,” Rivers told reporters. “The MVP race is over. Tonight we couldn’t make shots. We had guys making wide-open shots. The man just scored half our points in an NBA game. And I’m biased, but the MVP race is over.”
“The MVP races is over.”
Doc Rivers with some strong praise for Joel Embiid after his 52-point performance against the Celtics 👀
(via @NBATV)
The only way to know for sure will be when the votes come in for the league’s Most Valuable Player award, but Embiid has a strong case – averaging 33.3 points while shooting 54.7% from the field, both of which are career-highs.