With the race for the 2022-23 NBA MVP award coming down to the season's final games, 76ers superstar Joel Embiid turned in a resounding MVP statement. His coach did, too.
In a crucial two-point win over the Celtics, Embiid dominated his way to 52 points (on 20-of-25 shooting), 13 rebounds, six assists and two blocks in 39 minutes of action. The performance prompted Sixers head coach Doc Rivers to give quite the endorsement for his starting center.
"The MVP race is over," Rivers said following Embiid's performance. "Tonight, we couldn't make shots, we had guys [missing] 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 race is over. ... The man just scored half our points, in an NBA game."
— NBA TV (@NBATV) April 5, 2023
Doc Rivers on the MVP race 🗣 pic.twitter.com/sFzTtMvDvC
The numbers don't lie — Embiid scored 52 of Philadelphia's 103 points in the game, and outside of his 20-of-25 shooting, the rest of the team shot 19 of 53 (35.8 percent) from the field.
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Tuesday night marked Embiid's third 50-point game of the season and brought his league-leading scoring average up to 33.3 points per game with three games remaining until the NBA Playoffs.
JOEL EMBIID 50 PIECE 🗣️
— NBA (@NBA) April 5, 2023
52 PTS
13 REB
6 AST
80% FG
W pic.twitter.com/tcYz4bC4pa
The race that Rivers is referring to is between Embiid and the league's two-time MVP award winners — Giannis Antetokounmpo and Nikola Jokic, the reigning back-to-back MVP.
While it once appeared as though Jokic was well on his way to a rare third consecutive MVP, Embiid has made a strong push over the last several weeks, making him the odds-on favorite to take home the award.
In each of the last two seasons, Embiid finished second in MVP voting behind only Jokic. This year could be quite different.
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Rivers' endorsement comes just days after Trail Blazers superstar Damian Lillard expressed his belief that Embiid should take home MVP honors for his body of work during the 2022-23 season.
Neither Lillard nor Rivers have an MVP vote, but their endorsements do seem to be a reflection of the public opinion of Embiid's MVP candidacy. In just a few weeks' time, we'll see if the voters are of that same opinion.
