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While Denver Nuggets star Nikola Jokic remains the odds-on favorite to win a remarkable third-straight MVP, Joel Embiid of the Philadelphia 76ers continues to make his case, which is getting harder to ignore.\u00a0<\/p>\n
On Friday night, Embiid scored the game-winner with 1.1 seconds left, lifting Philadelphia over the Portland Trail Blazers by a 120-119<\/a> score. The Sixers’ big man finished 13-of-20 from the field and 13-of-18 from the charity stripe for 39 points while adding seven rebounds, four assists, two steals and three blocks to his stat line.\u00a0<\/p>\n Embiid has now posted 35 or more points for the 23rd time this season, a statistical achievement which according to ESPN<\/a> had only been accomplished twice prior to Friday<\/p>\n Embiid joins Hall of Famers Moses Malone and Shaquille O’Neal as the lone players to achieve the feat since the NBA\/ABA merger in 1976. Both Malone and O’Neal were named league MVP in those seasons. \u00a0<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n