Sixers’ Joel Embiid with longest scoring run in 51 years
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Image caption: Embiid and Maxey scored a combined 86 points of the Sixers’ 127
Joel Embiid scored a season-high 51 points and 12 rebounds as the Philadelphia 76ers beat the Minnesota Timberwolves 127-113.
The 29-year-old is the first NBA player to score more than 30 points and 10 rebounds in 12 consecutive games since Kareem Abdul-Jabbar 51 years ago.
Abdul-Jabbar’s record stands at 16 games for the Milwaukee Bucks in 1972.
Embiid, the NBA’s reigning Most Valuable Player, helped the Sixers to their seventh win in eight games.
The Cameroonian scored 20 points in the first half then completed the seventh 50-pointer of his career and second of the season late in the fourth quarter.
It inflicted a first loss in five games on Western Conference leaders the Timberwolves.
“That’s one of the best teams in the league and the best in the West,” Embiid said. “I’m glad everybody just showed up.”
Embiid, the NBA’s top scorer, averaging 34.4 points per game, also became the first Sixers player since Wilt Chamberlain in 1967 to score more than 40 points and 10 rebounds in three consecutive games.
Tyrese Maxey added 35 points for the Sixers, forming a prolific partnership with Embiid.
“He [Embiid] does it every night so consistently,” Maxey said. “We expect it of him and he goes out there and performs every single night.”
Elsewhere, the Boston Celtics moved to 21-6 at the top of the Eastern Conference with a 144-119 victory against the Sacramento Kings.
Jaylen Brown and Derrick White each scored 28 points in the absence of top scorer and rebounder Jayson Tatum who has a sprained ankle.
The LA Clippers extended their win streak to nine games with a 120-111 victory against the Dallas Mavericks. Kawhi Leonard scored 30 points and 10 rebounds for the Clippers.
Meanwhile, two-time NBA MVP Nikola Jokic scored 31 points and added 15 rebounds as reigning NBA champions the Denver Nuggets beat the Toronto Raptors 113-104.