February 02, 2022
Joel Embiid has been named Eastern Conference Player of the Month for the games played this January, picking up another individual honor as he continues his push for the league's Most Valuable Player trophy.
Across 14 appearances in the month of January, Embiid averaged 34 points, 10.8 rebounds, and 5.1 assists while shooting 54.2 percent from the field, joining Wilt Chamberlain as the only Sixers players to average 34-10-5 over a 14-game span. Chamberlain and Allen Iverson are the only players in franchise history to average more points per game in a month than Embiid did this January, as Philadelphia's current franchise player made a run any great would be envious of.
Joining him from the other conference is Denver big man Nikola Jokic, who continues his own assault of the league from the pivot. Jokic's absurd level of production in Denver — he's averaging roughly 26-14-8 for the season and propping up a depleted Nuggets team — has pushed Embiid's biggest rival for best big man in the game into the MVP conversation once again, despite his team sitting just sixth in the Western Conference standings. A year after these two went head-to-head for the league's top individual honor, they appear to be on a collision course once again, health permitting and barring a push from one of the league's other elite players down the stretch.
An illustration of the level these two guys are at: Embiid's high mark of the month was a 50-point performance to beat the Orlando Magic in mid-January, with Embiid becoming the quickest player to amass 50 points and 10 rebounds in a game during the shot-clock era, doing so in just over 27 minutes. Jokic met the standard by putting up a 49-point triple-double in an overtime victory over the Los Angeles Clippers, dishing out the game-winning assist at the death. The two players have become inextricably linked in most basketball conversations, which has frankly become insufferable, with few people able to appreciate just how special both players have been the last two seasons. Comparison is the thief of joy, word to Teddy Roosevelt.
Working in Embiid's favor right now, against Jokic and everybody else in the league: he is the only player to win more than one Player of the Month award so far this season, his sustained excellence across December and January putting him (for now) a tier above the rest of the league. Whether he's able to sustain that level of play as the Sixers' schedule toughens up again is a fair question to ask, but Embiid has managed to put up huge numbers this season even when he has had substandard performances by his standards, building an ironclad case as one of the best players in the sport.
As long as Philadelphia continues to win, and especially if they continue to win without the Sixers making a major deadline move, Embiid is going to factor into all the year-end award races when it's all said and done. This is another special season for a special player, and if the point hasn't been made enough times by now, it's why many are hoping the Sixers reward him with a win-now move to push the Sixers toward contender status.
"I'm trying to play at the best level possible that I can," Embiid said after his 50-ball against Orlando, "and that's being the best player in the world. And for us to win, I have to be that guy every single night."
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