Philadelphia Warriors are not the Sixers: Why Embiid's 70 points is most in franchise history
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Joel Embiid set a 76ers team record Monday night, dropping 70 points on the San Antonio Spurs. The Sixers won 133-123 and Embiid also added 18 rebounds.
The head-turning stat was the talk of the association and will likely stick out in MVP voters' minds come the end of this season. Embiid's main competitor for the title the past few seasons, Nikola Jokić, has a career high of 50 points in one game.
But with all the talk about Embiid setting a team record, some are bringing up the late great Hall of Famer Wilt Chamberlain. Embiid broke Chamberlain's 76ers record of 68 points, set on Dec. 16, 1967.
Chamberlain, a Philadelphia basketball legend, still holds spots Nos. 1, 3, 4, 7 and 12 on the NBA's all-time points in a single game list.
But all of those performances - including Wilt's league-record 100-point game on March 2, 1962 - were for the Philadelphia Warriors and the San Francisco Warriors.
That franchise went on to become the Golden State Warriors, and it has its own franchise records separate from the 76ers.
The closest anyone has gotten to Chamberlain's 100-point game is when Kobe Bryant scored 81 points against the Toronto Raptors in 2006.
Embiid acknowledged Chamberlain's legacy in a postgame press conference.
"It was great, obviously Wilt accomplished a lot of things ... the history of this league and basketball in general," Embiid said. "To be in the same conversation, that's pretty cool."
We've gotten a few calls to our newsroom today telling us we're wrong for saying Embiid now holds the Sixers' franchise record for points in a game. But it's true - Chamberlain never scored more than 68 points for the 76ers franchise. Chamberlain's highest-scoring games were for a different Philadelphia basketball team.
Chamberlain's 100-point game may stand forever as the top-scoring performance by a single player in NBA history and Philadelphia basketball history, but he wasn't a Sixer when he did that.
We'll just have to see what Embiid can do when the Sixers next play the Spurs on April 7, 2024.
Fans react to Embiid's 70-point performance
Fans were in shock and awe after watching Embiid score his most points in a game Monday night against San Antonio.
Sixers fan Taylor Campbell said she got tickets last minute and was happy she did.
"Joel Embiid drops 70 points, makes history, it was awesome," Campbell said.
We also talked to a Knicks fan who had plenty of positive words for the Sixers star.
"To be honest, when Embiid dropped 70, there's nothing like it," David Grimaldi said. "He's probably the best player in the league, he couldn't miss."
"Tonight there was something else, you could just feel it in the whole crowd," fan Liv Whytosek said. "Everyone was there and supporting the team, and wanted to be there and was super excited for the big historic moment."
Here's how Kevin Durant reacted to the performance, too:
@cbsphiladelphia Joel Embiid’s 70-point night was the talk of the NBA - even 13-time All-Star Kevin Durant was impressed. #nba #joelembiid #sixers #76ers #basketball #kevindurant #70points #70pointsinagame
♬ original sound - CBS Philadelphia
