Although James Harden is still recovering from injury and may miss a month of games, the 76ers, who have a poor record this season, beat the Suns, who are ranked first in the West, 100-88. In this "iron fight" battle, Joel Embiid scored 33+10+5 stats, setting two milestones in this game he surpassed two Hall of Famers.
Harden's voluntary salary cut helped the 76ers bring in a number of Rockets veterans, but so far it has not greatly improved the team's record this season, and even after beating the Suns, the 76ers are only ranked tenth in the East with a 5-6 record. However, with the Suns' Big Three starting together, the 76ers without Harden and the highly anticipated Maxi scoring only 11 points in 40 minutes, the 76ers pulled the Suns off the first place in the West.
Embiid's dominance was key to the 76ers' upset defeat of the Suns. Embiid returned from an eight-day hiatus in this game, playing 36 minutes and finishing with 33 points, 10 rebounds and five assists, a clear advantage over the Suns' top center Ayton, who only scored 14 points and seven rebounds in 30 minutes of playing time. In the game, Embiid made a game-high 16 free throws and hit all of them, which was unforgettable.
This is Embiid's 154th regular season game in his NBA career with 10+ free throws, officially completing the surpassing of "Glider" Clyde Drexler on the NBA all-time rankings of this statistic. It is worth mentioning that Drexler has led the team to the playoffs in each season of his 15-year NBA career, and only Carl Malone and John Stockton have a longer NBA career than Karl Malone and John Stockton among the players who have never missed the playoffs in the long history of the NBA.
This is also Embiid's 50th regular season game in his NBA career with 15+ free throws, and he officially completed the surpassing of Alonzo Molning on the NBA all-time ranking of this statistic, equaling the alphabet brother.
This is the 26th regular season game in Embiid's NBA career with 30+ points, 10+ rebounds and 5+ assists, equaling Tracy McGrady in the NBA all-time rankings!
On this night without Harden, with Maxi dumb, Embiid finally showed MVP-level style, especially with his shooting rate of only 38.1% and such comprehensive statistics worthy of praise, but Embiid also needs to improve the team's record and leadership, otherwise even if he has beautiful personal data, he can still only accompany the MVP selection.