This season, teams have played more than 35 rounds of the NBA regular season, and teams have picked up their pace. The Knicks took the lead in completing the Barrett and Anunoby swap trades, and have won four straight games to move into the fifth place in the East. Last season's Eastern Conference champions, the Heat, have been sidelined with core injuries this season, and Butler has only played once in the last eight games, and the team's various holes have begun to appear. The Heat have dropped from the top 4 in the East to the 8th place in the East. Of course, the landscape of the Eastern Conference as a whole is still very solid, because the gap between the teams is so great. In the West, on the contrary, the Timberwolves and Thunder, who performed exceptionally well in the previous period, have gradually slowed down.
The top-ranked Timberwolves have lost three of their last four games, while the Thunder have also lost back-to-back games to teams like the Hawks and Nets, which are difficult to get into the top eight in the East. The Clippers, on the other hand, have been riding high, sweeping away the slump at the beginning of the season, with a 22-13 record and ranking fourth in the West. However, the Clippers' strong momentum was ended by a team that was hovering around the play-in tournament. That's the Lakers, led by James with 25 points, 8 rebounds and 7 assists, and the Lakers are back in 10th place in the West. However, while the 39-year-old James is still trying his best to lead the team to the championship, there is a team in the East whose star is aiming for MVP and scoring title. Bomb 40 points, blast 30 points! Ugly MVP, you have to score points when you are injured, you are really overrated!
The 76ers have made the playoffs every season since Embiid's rookie season, but their best record is only in the second round. During this period, the 76ers brought in Butler, Simmons, and Harden for Embiid, but they couldn't make the team go any further. This season, the 76ers simply stopped looking for stars in their prime, and instead partnered with rising star Maxey and Embiid. At the beginning of the season, the 76ers did play a strong performance, and Embiid was in a very hot state this season, breaking team history and even league records in a row. Embiid is averaging 34.6 points per game so far this season, scoring more points than he has played. In addition, he also had 11.8 rebounds and 6 assists, which also helped Embiid to dominate the league's MVP list for many consecutive times.
However, Embiid's stat uptick doesn't translate into a team win, and as the season progresses, other teams are familiar with the 76ers' style of play this season. Although the 76ers still sit in third place in the East with a 23-12 record, in the last four games, the 76ers have lost to less competitive teams like the Bulls, Knicks and Jazz. Embiid's performance on the court also became the target of public criticism again, and in the game against the Knicks, the 76ers once trailed by as many as 39 points, and finally the 76ers lost by 36 points. Embiid, on the other hand, played 36 minutes and finished with 30 points and 10 rebounds on less than 45% shooting from the field.
And Embiid was able to continue to break the 76ers all-time record, scoring 30+ points in 16 consecutive games and 30+ points and 10+ rebounds in 15 consecutive games. After that game, Embiid was unable to play in the game against the Jazz because of the increased knee swelling and pain, which directly led to the team's loss to the swing team. When the team's defeat is decided, it is definitely irresponsible to play to reach the record at the risk of an aggravated injury. It is not the first time Embiid has done this kind of thing as the core of the 76ers, not long ago in the game with the Bulls, Embiid scored 40 points, 14 rebounds and 6 assists with a 53% shooting rate, but the 76ers finally lost the game by 4 points.
Embiid was also the only player in the starting lineup with a negative plus/minus, but his scoring was the highest for both teams. Embiid's main style of play on the offensive end is also his most criticized point by fans, as a center, his main scoring means is actually a mid-range jumper outside the paint area and inside the three-point line. So far this season, the only people in the league who have taken more shots from distance than Embiid are DeRozan, Ingram and Durant. Embiid is Xi playing alone with the ball from the outside, dribbling to the free-throw line to shoot. In this way of offense, Embiid averaged a league-high 11.6 offenses per game and shot 88.2% from the free-throw line.
Embiid won the scoring title last season and the first regular season MVP of his career. But Embiid's performance with the team is far inferior to that of Antetokounmpo and Jokic, who are also in their prime, and the latter has won championships one after another. Jokic has focused on championships rather than regular-season stats. Compared to the beginning of the season, Jokic's individual scoring has dropped somewhat, but the Nuggets as a whole remain extremely competitive. Jokic struggled to use his skills to tie the team together, and in the game against the Pistons, Jokic only scored four points on three shots and dished out 16 assists. It is enough to see that the gap between Embiid and Jokic is really very large, and Embiid's performance is really overrated.