Joel Embiid strengthens MVP bid by guiding 76ers past Pelicans 109-107

Joel Embiid strengthens MVP bid by guiding 76ers past Pelicans 109-107

Joel Embiid

Joel Embiid scored a game-winning double-double for the Philadelphia 76ers with 37 points and 13 rebounds. The home team beat New Orleans Pelicans who were without their marquee playerZion Williamson. The 76ers (46-21) won their season-high seventh straight game and have a three-game lead over Brooklyn and Milwaukee in the Eastern Conference. Barring a crazy collapse over the final five games. 

The Philadelphia 76ers will win the conference and home-court advantage through the conference playoffs. The Sixers are 26-7 at home this season and they won another tight one against New Orleans pelicans. 

Joel Embiid leads 76ers past Pelicans with double-double 

Joel Embiid and the Sixers are rolling as they head toward a postseason series with the winner of an East play-in tournament. Harris scored 17 points. 

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Jaxson Hayes scored 19 points for the Pelicans. While Lonzo Ball and Eric Bledsoe each had 18. Without Williamson, the Pelicans faded in the fourth and scored only 16 points. They missed 27 of 36 3-point attempts. 

Embiid, the 7-foot All-Star center, continued to put up the numbers in stats and the win column that made him an MVP frontrunner for most of the season. The one number slowing down his bid? It’s 48, as in games played, well behind the 67 played by Denver Nuggets’ Nikola Jokic. Milwaukee Bucks’ Giannis Antetokounmpo and Phoenix Suns’ Chris Paul are also among the stout candidates. 

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