To become one of the All-Time Greatest Scorers in NBA history takes countless hours of training on focus, balance, conditioning, mechanics, and footwork.
But it also takes a willingness to dominate. To decide that every night, you're going to drop 40-plus on the opponent and there's nothing they can do about it, so you're going to not just score, but score as much as possible.
It takes something else to score 70. It takes an extremely rare combination of skill, precision, touch, control, determination, and viciousness.
That's what Joel Embiid had on Monday when he scored 70 points on the San Antonio Spurs, becoming the 9th player in NBA history to score 70 in a game.
Embiid had the first 70-18-5 game in NBA history as he destroyed the Spurs and rookie phenom Victor Wembanyama. Here are the buckets. Be advised, this is most definitely not safe for work because it's filthy.
There's stuff here you don't often see from Embiid, like the double-bump turn and dunk at the 4:10 mark of the video above. He doesn't go to those kinds of brute-force dunks very often. He had just 17 dunks coming in. But Embiid recognized early that Wembanyama simply didn't have the weight or core strength to disrupt him from getting to his spots. If most players in the NBA struggle with Embiid's combination of size, quickness, and skill like a man trying to fight a black bear, Wembanyama was more like Tokyo struggling with Godzilla.
What's worse, the alternative for the Spurs was Zach Collins who was constantly being flung out of position when he wasn't wildly hacking at Embiid and sending him to the line.
Embiid is now averaging 36.1 points per game, tying him with James Harden for the 7th most in NBA history and the second-most since 1964 (Wilt Chamberlain).
Not only that, but Embiid is doing so in just 34 minutes per game and at a relatively slower pace.
Embiid is currently on pace to finish as the all-time leader in points per 36 minutes and points per 100 possessions (available since 1980). He's doing so on 54-36-89 splits.
It is fair to suggest that this is the greatest individual scoring season of the modern era since Wilt Chamberlain was averaging 50 per night and in a very different competitive structure.
Offense is out of control in the NBA, with average nightly points scored the highest since 1970 and per possession scoring the highest since at least 1974. But even with that, Embiid's dominance is so well-rounded and consistent that it deserves mention among the best we've ever seen. Embiid is 72nd percentile shooting at the rim despite having constant double teams, 50th percentile from 3, and a stunning 50.5% from mid-range, which is 92nd percentile.
Embiid is a three-level scorer with exceptionally high usage. While the Timberwolves lost while trying to force-feed Karl-Anthony Towns a chance at 70-plus, the Sixers cruised to a fairly comfortable win over the Spurs behind Embiid's 70. Why? The Sixers are built for Embiid's greatness to be their engine, and the Wolves are not.
But the Sixers being adapted around Embiid wouldn't matter if he didn't put the work in. It's easy to toss aside Embiid's performance as stat-hunting versus a bad team, but it's better to view it as proof of his dedication and passion for greatness. It would have been easy for Embiid to downshift and just get out of Monday with a win and a still-huge scoring performance. But Embiid hustled and battled for every point to the buzzer.
If caring about individual accolades is considered lame, Embiid is battling that with a passion for putting on a show. The Sixers fans who were in attendance Monday will never forget that night and talk about it for years to come.
Joel Embiid is the biggest and best show in the NBA this season and Monday was the latest in his show-stopping performances.
