Updated playoff seeding, Joel Embiid’s scoring title race, and the 76ers final game of the regular season
The Philadelphia 76ers earned their 50th win of the 2021-22 NBA season yesterday afternoon with a 133-120 victory over the Indiana Pacers.
Joel Embiid dominated the Pacers from start to finish, scoring 41 points on 14-of-17 shooting from the floor while pulling in 20 rebounds. Embiid now has three games with 40+ points and 20+ rebounds, all of which are against Indiana.
Joel Embiid Step-Back Three
James Harden added 22 points and 15 assists, while Tobias Harris and Tyrese Maxey both scored 18 points. Danny Green was the in the starting lineup and continued to perform well, scoring 15 points.
Playoff Seeding
With one game left on the schedule, by the end of the night, we’ll know who the Sixers will be playing in the first round of the playoffs. The Sixers will finish as either the fourth or third seed in the Eastern Conference standings. In order to move up into third place, they will need to beat the Pistons tonight, and get some help from the Memphis Grizzlies, who will play the Boston Celtics later today.Â
A third seed will mean that the Sixers will play the Chicago Bulls in the first round of the playoffs, a team that they swept during the regular season. The fourth seed will mean that the 76ers play the Toronto Raptors in the first round.
Regardless of the matchup, the Sixers will have home court advantage in round one. Both James Harden and Joel Embiid spoke after yesterday’s game and were unsure if they would suit up tonight on the second leg of a back-to-back to end the season.
NBA Scoring Title
I don’t want to get ahead of ourselves, but even if Embiid sits tonight, it looks like the NBA Scoring Champion will play for the Philadelphia 76ers.
Embiid’s 41 points yesterday increased his lead (30.57 ppg) over Giannis Antetokounmpo (29.88 ppg). If Embiid puts up zero points tonight, he will finish the season averaging 30.13 points per game and Giannis would have to score 47 points against the Cavaliers to win the scoring title.
Luckily for Embiid, if he cares about the scoring title, he will know exactly how many points he needs to clinch since the Bucks play at 3:30PM today.
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Mandatory Credit: USA TODAY SPORTS
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