Karl-Anthony Towns was reminding us last night with that sound that he will always be in the background, behind his peers. Joel Embiid created his masterpiece on Monday night in Philadelphia, scoring 70 points and grabbing 18 rebounds to demonstrate his scoring power. Embiid’s 70 points also occurred on the eighteenth anniversary of Kobe Bryant of Philadelphia shocking Jalen Rose and the Raptors with 81 points.
Joel Embiid is the most productive scorer in NBA history in terms of minutes played. Every 36 minutes that Embiid spends on the court, he can produce buckets at a rapid rate. Embiid is currently the only player in NBA history to average over 50 points per 48 minutes as of Tuesday. One important point to note is that he is playing 14 fewer minutes each night than Wilt Chamberlain did in 1962.
Though Victor Wembanyama may be the basketball player of the future, he was dealt a harsh lesson in the current reality he lives in against the Philadelphia 76ers. Although Embiid’s style of play isn’t the most visually appealing, he punishes opponents in the paint to the point where defenders appear to be inflatable tube men. His face-up game is flawless on the perimeter. He is shooting at the new league average of 36 percent when he is outside the arc.
However, because of his ability to draw free throws and then knock them down, Embiid has come to be mocked. It’s old news to be outraged by the prevalence of three-point shooting. Weeping over free-throw vendors is the current trend. NBA gasbags have been fixated on Embiid’s historic free-throw rate for the last few weeks.
How many free throws did Embiid get in his 34-point half? That’s a surefire sign that the conversation around him is skewed.
To respond to the query, Embiid made 23 tries to reach the line and drained 21 of them. His total without free throws was 47 points. Weep over that. In response to Embiid’s game, Wembanyama remained quiet, but he nevertheless emphasized the essence of this time period:
“This is a game for big men.”
Until he is truly unsettled during the regular season, Nikola Jokic is the best player in the NBA. Though Wemby is only starting his quest for the throne, Embiid and Jokic are now wrassling over, making Embiid the most deserving opponent. Embiid is having a generational season, which just increases the pressure on Daryl Morey to make a trade close to the deadline that keeps this whole thing from being pointless. It’s likely that Embiid will take home yet another scoring crown, and miss a few more games to slip below the 65-game mark, which will disqualify him from All-NBA Teams, MVP, and his season from being remembered as a piece of trash.
But Embiid wasn’t the only major player lighting up the nets.
Towns was scoring 62 points in a loss to the Charlotte Hornets at the same time. Mark Williams, the cornerstone of their defense, has been out for the past few weeks due to a month and a half of back pain.
But in Towns’ situation, Minnesota was so consumed by their quest for the player of the night that they were unable to even secure a victory. In fact, Towns cooled off a lot following his opening-half 44-point performance. The Timberwolves were actually so preoccupied with getting Towns a 60-burger that they lost sight of the reality that the game was close, which prompted Chris Finch to chastise his group for playing too immaturely.
Towns’ own coach was not as complimentary of him as Wembanyama was after Embiid’s 37-minute “shrimp skewer” play against the Spurs.
When you score two, three, or four points in a row or baskets in a row, you know naturally that we’re going to try to feed a hot hand and look for a hot hand. But eventually, we have to go back to making the right plays and acting morally, Finch stated during his postgame availability.
As Finch put it, “There’s a lot of ways to be immature.” “There are numerous ways to be immature at all times. Throughout the roster, there were numerous inexperienced performances. We completely disregarded the game and ourselves, and we received our just desserts.
Finch was the complete Grinch. Paradoxically, Finch enjoys making big plays. He was Denver’s first Jokic whisperer. He worked with Zion Williamson in the past and designed the Pelicans’ inverted offense with Demarcus Cousins and Anthony Davis. He has successfully acclimated Gobert into the T-Wolves, which has earned them the top seed. Yes, despite all of the talk surrounding the Oklahoma City Thunder’s rise, they are still, quietly, the best team in the West.
Towns had the potential to be this generation’s Embiid, but for some reason, he never acquired the physicality or combativeness on either side of the ball necessary to succeed as a real big man in this era—or any other, for that matter—at the All-NBA level. Recall those annoying free throws? Compared to Towns, Embiid travels to the line almost twice as frequently.
But where would Towns slot in if he can’t be an elite big in a time when officiating and style are stacked in his favor? Don’t even consider the possibility that George Mikan was “that dude” at the beginning of the league; he was filthy in his day.
Towns only drained half as many free shots as Embiid, so those who have been criticizing Embiid for his frequent free-throw trips should be relieved. Embiid has more ways to contribute when his shooting isn’t falling, and that doesn’t even include his excellent defense. Towns is one of the best three-pointing shooters in the game right now, but he is a minnow in the low post. Jokic and Embiid perform everything Towns does better and more effectively. Towns were humbled again on a career night.
