Joel Embiid managed to secure the NBA Scoring Title on Friday night without even playing against the Atlanta Hawks. 

The only other player in the NBA that had a chance to catch Embiid was Luka Doncic, but he only played 13 minutes and scored 13 points on Friday night, officially crowning Embiid the NBA Scoring champion for the second consecutive season. 

Embiid’s career high 33.1 points per game led the entire NBA in scoring this season. Doncic finished second, averaging 32.4 points per game. 

Last year, Embiid became the first center to win the scoring title in over two decades (Shaq 1999-2000) and he was the first international player to ever take home the honors. 

Embiid is now the first seven-footer to win two straight NBA scoring titles since Kareem Abdul-Jabbar did it in 1970-72. He is the first center to win it back-to-back since Bob McAdoo did it for three straight seasons beginning in 1974. 

Joel Embiid Makes NBA History

It’s hard to imagine that Embiid was actually significantly better this season than last year when he won the scoring title by putting up 30.6 points per game while shooting 50 percent from the floor over 68 games. 

This season, Embiid scored 33 points per game while shooting 55 percent from the field. 

Now, we’ll have to wait and see if the scoring title will help his case to be crowned the 2022-23 NBA MVP. Embiid finished in first place in the final NBA Ladder Rankings for MVP earlier this week. 

As for the Sixers, they beat the Atlanta Hawks on Friday night without their starting lineup taking the court. They’ll close out the regular season tonight in Brooklyn agains the Nets, a team they’ll face in the first round of the playoffs next week. 

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