In my travels around the city during the holidays, I was introduced to the perfect billboard. Right off of 34th Street in South Philadelphia, there is a blown up version of Joel Embiid’s 2020-21 team photo stamped on a huge billboard with just one simple word above: MVPIID.

Joel Embiid Billboard in South Philadelphia

We could sit here and debate the best way to combine MVP and Joel Embiid. Most of the time at The Liberty Line, we use “EMVPIID“. Regardless, the billboard and Joel Embiid provide a glimmer of hope for the Philadelphia 76ers this season. He is the sole reason why the 76ers are in sixth place in the Eastern Conference with a 18-16 record.

Without Embiid, the 76ers resemble a lottery team.

Embiid defines what the Most Valuable Player award means in the NBA. Sure, it’s constantly being debated all over Twitter, but let’s check out just how good he has been so far this season as we close out 2021.

Over the last 5 games, Joel Embiid has dominated opponents:

• 36 PTS – 11 REB – 4 AST
• 36 PTS – 13 REB – 2 BLK
• 23 PTS – 10 REB – 2 BLK
• 41 PTS – 10 REB – 5 BLK
• 32 PTS – 9 REB – 6 AST

Last game against Toronto, Embiid scored nine points in the final five and a half minutes of the game and also stopped Gary Trent Jr. from giving the Raptors the lead with under 30 seconds remaining in the game. He only needed 16 field goal attempts to hang 36 points on the Raptors and lead the Sixers to their second straight win.

We have seen this time and time again with Embiid this season, as he knocked down game-tying and clutch shots against Atlanta, dropped 43 points, 15 rebounds, and seven assists against the Hornets, and sucked the souls out of the Boston Celtics in the closing minutes, all while telling Boston head coach that he’s a “mother fucking monster.”

For those who want to question, Embiid in the clutch, I sure wouldn’t. Embiid leads the league with 55 clutch points in the month of December by a double digit margin. He’s shooting nearly 56% with three blocks, five assists, and only one clutch turnover during that span.

Looking specifically at the recent stretch of road games for the 76ers, Embiid has averaged nearly 37 points and 11 rebounds over his last six games away from Philadelphia while shooting almost 61% from the floor. Embiid is the first player to average 35 points and 10 rebounds on 60% shooting since Shaq in March of 2000. (Stathead).

This month, Joel Embiid has averaged 28.8 points, 11.5 rebounds and 4.2 assists in 12 games. He’s also been to the line an NBA leading 130 times the month of December and has made 111 of them.

Tonight, the 76ers will close out the 2021 season in Brooklyn against the Nets, a team that Embiid has averaged 28.6 points, 12.0 rebounds and 3.6 assists in 15 games in his career.

The 76ers will go as far as Embiid will take them. Hopefully at some point, we’ll get MVPIID some help via a Ben Simmons trade.

Until then, you just have to Trust The Process.