Don't mean to rain on Joel Embiid, but scoring 70 points isn't getting the Sixers out of the second round

Reigning NBA MVP Joel Embiid ran amuck on the San Antonio Spurs Monday night in Philly, dropping 70 on Victor Wembanyama and crew. Even Kevin Durant was thoroughly impressed when learning of Embiid’s feat during his postgame presser after the Suns’ win over the Bulls. In doing this, Embiid set a new career high for himself, but that’s honestly not what fans in Philadelphia are clamoring for.

Those fine folks in the City of Brotherly Love are desperate for another NBA Championship banner. Making it to the Eastern Conference Finals would be satisfying at this point. Embiid finally took home MVP hardware last season, so now it’s about advancing in the postseason. Scoring 70 in an NBA game is no easy accomplishment. But let’s not act like these players are doing this during an era where opponents are playing defense.

We’re living in the most prolific scoring era we’ve ever witnessed. Someone is seemingly scoring 40 points every night. Fifty-plus every other night. It’s not that Embiid scoring 70 isn’t impressive, but we’ve seen it. Donovan Mitchell and Damian Lillard both did it last year. This isn’t meant to crap on any of that, it’s just that Embiid is now an MVP player and he’s no longer measured by only individual accomplishments.

Embiid has an entire city on his back and is expected to come through not just in January but in May and, hopefully, June. Simply scoring a ton of points isn’t enough for Embiid. But we also can’t overlook the fact the league is set up for these types of performances. Since 2017, we’ve seen five guys post 70-point games. In the history of the association up until 2006, only four players had done that (Wilt Chamberlain did it six times). The NBA wants this and has done everything possible to ensure these scoring outputs occur more frequently.

As a superstar, once you get to a certain point, you’re expected to be winning or at least playing for championships. Durant was impressed by Embiid’s big game and it’s something KD has never done. But KD has rings, Finals MVPs and a league MVP award on his resume. That’s the next step for Embiid and the Sixers. Getting past the second round of the playoffs will be a huge accomplishment. But ultimately, it’s going to come down to how far he can take this team into late spring.