Joel Embiid became the first international player and first center since Shaquille O’Neal to win a scoring title after scoring 30.6 points per game.
SCORING CHAMP.
— SLAM (@SLAMonline) April 10, 2022
📸: @Lukesflicks pic.twitter.com/tSZKFMtm3T
Embiid clinched the NBA scoring title on Sunday to become the first Sixer to win a scoring title since Allen Iverson won the last of his four titles during the 2003-2004 campaign.
“He’s done it the right way. He’s made the right passes. He’s passed the ball, and he’s passed the ball more this year than in past years, yet he still leads us in scoring,” Rivers said per NBA.com. “It’s a pretty cool thing. Very happy for him. I don’t know what it means, but I know that it means he’s dominant.”
The No. 3 overall pick in the 2014 draft reportedly set out to win MVP at the beginning of the season. Embiid finished the season on a streak of nine games with at least 20 points and 10 rebounds. He also posted 12 games of 40 points and 10 boards, joining an exclusive club that only Russell Westbrook and Moses Malone have been a part of since the NBA and ABA merged during the 1976-1977 season.
Embiid averaged 30.6 points, 11.7 rebounds, and 4.2 assists per game on 49.9 percent shooting from the field and 37.1 percent from long distance in 33.8 minutes per game. The fewest minutes averaged in a season by a scoring champ in the shot-clock era.
your 2021-22 @NBA scoring champion: @JoelEmbiid. 🏆 pic.twitter.com/mbUySlOSH0
— Philadelphia 76ers (@sixers) April 11, 2022
With one major accomplishment out of the way, Embiid and the 76ers will wait to see if The Process will bring the MVP trophy for the first time since Allen Iverson did so in 2001.
“I don’t do a lot of campaigning, and I’m not going to sit here and do a whole bunch,” Rivers said. “I think Joel has campaigned enough with his play. He really has. I don’t think people realize how hard it is for a center to lead the NBA in scoring. It’s so much easier for guards because they have the ball, and they can shoot whenever they want to. Centers are incumbent not only on getting the ball, but they’re the easiest guy to get trapped as well.”
JEEZ JOEL. pic.twitter.com/QQ96h3ca6K
— x – Philadelphia 76ers (@sixers) April 1, 2022
Embiid finished as the runner-up to 2021 MVP Nikola Jokic.
The Sixers take on the Raptors in the first round of the playoffs with the goal of winning their first title since 1983.
