Philadelphia 76ers' Joel Embiid scores franchise-record 70 points in NBA

By Can Erozden

Philadelphia 76ers' Joel Embiid was on fire to score a franchise-record 70 points in an NBA game that they won against the San Antonio Spurs 133-123 on Monday night.

Embiid, a 29-year-old center-forward, scored a career-high 70 points and grabbed a career-high 18 rebounds. He broke NBA Hall of Fame Wilt Chamberlain's Philadelphia record of 68 points that he set on Dec. 16, 1967.

Chamberlain was a Philadelphia Warriors player when he set the NBA record with 100 points. The franchise was founded in Philadelphia in 1946, but the Warriors moved to San Francisco in 1962. The team's name in 1971 was changed to Golden State Warriors, who have been a Western Conference franchise for decades.

Embiid's record coincided with former Los Angeles Lakers star Kobe Bryant's epic performance in 2006. Deceased NBA superstar Bryant scored 81 points against the Toronto Raptors on Jan. 22, 2006, which is still the second-highest all-time total in the history of NBA.

"From the time I started playing, Kobe was my guy," Embiid said.
"He's the reason why I started playing basketball. It's funny, on the same night, he got 81, and that was my favorite player."

Embiid was not the only player to display a stellar performance on Monday.

Separately, Minnesota Timberwolves' Karl-Anthony Towns, 28, scored a franchise-record 62 points against the Charlotte Hornets on Monday, a rare night for the NBA.

Towns scored 44 points in the first half, but the Hornets erased an 18-point deficit to beat the Timberwolves 128-125 in Minneapolis.