Former Kansas Jayhawks center Joel Embiid scores 50 points in just 27 minutes

Former Kansas basketball center Joel Embiid tied a career high by scoring 50 points in just 27 minutes of playing time in the Philadelphia 76ers’ 123-110 victory over the Orlando Magic on Wednesday night at Wells Fargo Center in Philly.

Embiid, a 7-foot, 280-pound forward/center from Cameroon, joined Golden State’s Klay Thompson as the only two players in NBA history to score 50 or more points in fewer than 28 minutes.

Thompson scored 52 points in 27 minutes in a win over the Chicago Bulls in 2018. Embiid according to CBSsports.com also became the only player to ever score at least 50 points and grab at least 10 rebounds in 27 or fewer minutes. Embiid had 12 rebounds Wednesday.

The 27-year-old Embiid, who averages 28.0 points a game, hit 17 of 23 shots and was 15-of-17 from the free throw line. He also had three blocked shots while playing just 58 seconds of the fourth quarter.

Embiid scored 20 points in the first quarter and 23 in the third. His 50th point came when he cashed a free throw with 6:26 left and the fans chanting, “MVP, MVP.” Many fans took pictures of Embiid with their cell phones as he scored point No. 50.

He also had 50 points in a 112-105 win over Chicago on Feb. 19, 2021 in Philly. Embiid scored 49 points against Atlanta in February of 2020, 46 against the Los Angeles Lakers in November of 2017 and 45 versus Miami in December of 2021.

In the 50-point game against the Bulls he hit 17 of 26 shots and was 15-of-17 from the line. He also had 17 rebounds that night and five assists in 35 minutes.

“It’s all about playing the right way. The ball is always going to find me,” Embiid said after Wednesday’s game as quoted by ESPN.com. “These guys have a hell of a lot of trust in me, and they’re always looking for me.

“And it doesn’t matter when. In any time of the game, the ball is going to find me,” Embiid added.

Embiid has scored at least 31 points in 13 of his last 15 games. In the other two games he scored 23 and 25 points.

Justin Kubatko of Statitudes LLC reported on Twitter that Embiid is “just the second player in Sixers history to record multiple 50-point, 10-rebound games. He joins Wilt Chamberlain, who had 11 such games with the franchise.” Chamberlain, like Embiid, played college basketball at Kansas.

“He was unbelievable from the start,” Sixers coach Doc Rivers said according to CBSsports.com. “I played with (Hall of Famer) Dominique Wilkins and I don’t know if I’ve seen that. I’ve seen Dominique score more, but it took the whole game,” Rivers added. “That was easy, quick, efficient and determined.”

Entering Wednesday night, Embiid was averaging 27.3 points and 10.5 rebounds per game.

“One of my goals has always been to be invaluable every single night,” Embiid told CBSsports.com after the win over Orlando. “And that’s what I’ve been.”

Coincidentally Sixers guard Tyrese Maxey told USA Today that before the game he asked Embiid what dominant big man he’d resemble against the Magic: Shaquille O’Neal or Dirk Nowitzki.

“It was amazing to watch,” said Maxey. “I was messing with him before the game about who was he gonna be tonight. Shaq, Dirk? Because he can do everything. He was like ‘I’m gonna be Joel’. I was like ‘OK, you go be Joel then’ and that’s what he did,” Maxey told USA Today.

Embiid explained his conversation with Maxey to USA Today: ““I said me because at times, whenever I want, I’m able to be Shaq and whenever I want, I’m also able to be Dirk or Kobe (Bryant) or MJ (Michael Jordan) or any guards, really,” Embiid explained. “Shooting off the dribble or pull-ups or ball-handling, just a combination of everything offensively so I was OK tonight.”

Embiid, by the way, averaged 11.2 points and 8.1 rebounds a game in his one season at KU (2013-14). He was selected No. 3 overall by Philly in the 2014 NBA Draft.