There was clearly something in the air on Monday, especially if you were at least seven feet tall.
First, reigning NBA MVP and Philadelphia 76ers centre Joel Embiid dropped 70 points in a win against the San Antonio Spurs to become one of nine players to reach the 70-point mark in a game, while also breaking Wilt Chamberlain’s franchise record of 68 points set back in 1967.
Embiid shot 24-of-41 from the field, 21-of-23 from the free-throw line, and added 18 boards and five assists to round out his monster statline. He became the first player in NBA history with a 70-plus point, 18-plus rebound and five-plus assist outing.
But, there was more.
Fellow big man Karl-Anthony Towns cooked up his own franchise-record performance in a loss to the Charlotte Hornets.
The 2015 No. 1-overall pick scored 62 points with 44 points coming in the first half. Both marks set Minnesota Timberwolves records.
Towns was 14-for-17 from the field and 8-of-9 from three-point range in the first half as the Wolves took a 69-64 lead over the Hornets. The eight three-pointers in a half were two shy of the NBA record.
The two performances came on the 18th anniversary of Kobe Bryant’s 81-point explosion against the Toronto Raptors in 2006.
The last time the league saw two 60-point games in the same night was in 1978 when David Thompson and George Gervin both reached the milestone, so naturally NBA fans took to social media to basque in Monday night’s spectacle.
