Joel Embiid showed one of the best performances of the season against Los Angeles Lakers and pulverized his own career record with 46 points. Afterwards, he told ESPN that he wanted to carry on like this.
“It feels great. I love Los Angeles and the Staples Center, and that’s why I wanted to come here and put on a show. I did that,”said Embiid, whose Philadelphia 76s won against both the Clippers and the Lakers in the last few days.
“It’s just a pity that none of them are trash talkers,”grinned the center, who has already achieved cult status for his slogans,”but I had fun anyway. I just wanted to be aggressive. This is my new mentality. I can’t wait to take the same momentum with me to the next games.”
Embiid is currently putting on 23 points, 11.2 rebounds and 1.9 blocks in 29 minutes per game over the season, although he is still not completely fit after injury problems during the pre-season. Embiid sees himself at “about 50 percent” at the moment, as he emphasized before the game against the Lakers.
This was confirmed by Sixers-GM Bryan Colangelo,”Joel is special in so many ways. Once he’s in full shape – he still has to catch up – we can be very optimistic. We’ve carefully built him up for what he’s showing now, but he’s still not at 100 percent.”
The Sixers, who have always been among the league’s weakest teams in recent years, are currently on the Eastern Conference’s playoff course with an 8-6 record.