Joel Embiid was the best player in the NBA for the month of December. That’s not an opinion. It’s fact.
The league named the 7-footer the Eastern Conference Player of the Month on Tuesday after he averaged 29.2 points and 11.2 rebounds in 13 games. The All-Star center has been unstoppable – or the “complete package,” to quote Kendrick Perkins – as he continues to surge up the NBA’s MVP ladder. Embiid was the lone player to record at least 350 points, 140 rebounds, and 50 assists in December.
He posted eight double-doubles – second in the East, tied for fifth in the NBA – and racked up 13 games in double figures, including two 40-point performances. He joins Hall of Famers Allen Iverson and Julius Erving as the only players in franchise history to win Eastern Conference Player of the Month at least three times. Iverson did it four times; Erving did it three.
Joel Embiid vs. HOU (01/03):
‣ 31 PTS
‣ 15 REB
‣ 10 AST
‣ 1 STL / 1 BLK
Since 1970 (52 SZNS) ONLY 5 other Centers finished a game w such numbers.
Embiid is the only player to average 30 PPG on at least 50% FG, 40% 3P, 80% FT over the past month…
Debate MVP, I know mine.
Embiid has always been more concerned about winning a championship than individual awards. After dropping 31 points in a 133-113 win over the Houston Rockets on Monday night, the Sixers’ big man doubled down on that goal. He’s also gunning for NBA Defensive Player of the Year honors.
“I want to win. Even based on the circumstances I think we still have a chance,” Embiid told reporters. “We can beat anybody on any given night so I just want to do whatever is necessary every single night. Whether it’s to be the best offensive player, scorer, playmaker, best defensive player just protecting the rim …
“You know, like I have always said, there’s a reason why Rudy [Gobert] has won so many Defensive Player of the Year awards because the center is the most important position on the defensive end, so wherever I’m at that’s going to be what I am going to do.”
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Embiid Notches Third Career Triple-Double
Embiid had nine assists with 4:20 left in the fourth quarter when he dished it to an open Seth Curry who drained a 22-footer to make it 120-103. That was it. Embiid’s 10th dime ensured his third career triple-double.
More impressively, Sixers fans knew what was at stake and cheered on Curry to shoot it. After the game, Embiid was more excited about getting a fourth straight win. And the team’s ball movement in general.
“I thought we moved the ball extremely well tonight, we played together, I think it was a team win,” Embiid said. “Furk [Furkan Korkmaz] did a great job as a point [guard], Seth [Curry] was himself, you know guys coming off the bench they were moving the ball also, I think the recipe tonight was just playing with each other.”
.@sixers @JoelEmbiid has his third career triple-double with 31 points, 15 rebounds and 10 assists thus far tonight.
The previous two came on 4/4/19 vs. MIL and 11/14/18 at ORL.
h/t @Stathead
Embiid’s prior two triple-doubles came on April 4, 2019 (versus Milwaukee) and on November 14, 2018 (versus Orlando).
Sixers Sign Charlie Brown Jr.
Get those Peanuts jokes ready. And keep Lucy away from the Wells Fargo Center. OK, enough. The Sixers signed Charlie Brown Jr. to a 10-day hardship contract on Monday after a stint in the NBA G League.
The Sixers say Tyrese Maxey and Matisse Thybulle have entered the protocols, and they’ve signed former St. Joe’s star Charlie Brown Jr. to a hardship deal.
Brown didn’t play in Monday night’s game, although he was available on the bench. The Sixers have been undermanned in recent games due to COVID-19 hitting the locker room. The latest to turn up positive tests were Matisse Thybulle and Tyrese Maxey, along with head coach Doc Rivers.
Brown joins the Sixers after seeing 15 minutes across three games for the Dallas Mavericks. Prior to Dallas, he was a member of the Delaware Blue Coats (Sixers’ G League affiliate) where he averaged 16.3 points, 7.7 rebounds, 1.5 assists, 1.8 steals per game. The 6-foot-6 shooting guard went undrafted out of Saint Joseph’s University in 2019. He is a Philadelphia native who attended Imhotep Institute Charter.
MERRY CHRISTMAS, CHARLIE BROWN
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‘We Can Beat Anybody’: Sixers’ Joel Embiid Sounds Off After Winning Award