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Embiid goes back to back

Fred Jeter | 4/13/2023, 6 p.m.
Joel Embiid has done it again. For the second straight season the Philadelphia 76ers’ center is the NBA scoring champ.
Joel Embiid

Joel Embiid has done it again. For the second straight season the Philadelphia 76ers’ center is the NBA scoring champ.

The 7-foot-1, 280-pound, 29-year-old native of Cameroon finished with a 33.1 scoring norm, just ahead of Dallas’ Luka Doncic (32.4).

He had three games of at least 50 points, including a 52- point explosion against Boston in which he was 20-for-25 from the field.

Later this spring, Embiid is likely to get his first MVP title after finishing runnerup to Denver’s Nikola Jokic in 2022 and Milwaukee’s Giannis Antetokounmpo in 2021.

Embiid was the points-per-game king last year with a 30.6 average.

More than just a scorer, Embiid averaged 10.2 rebounds, 4.2 assists and 1.7 blocked shots while hitting 55 percent from the floor, 33 percent beyond the arc and 86 percent at the foul line.

Led by Embiid and veteran guard James Harden, the Sixers will carry a 54-28 record into the first round of the Eastern Conference playoffs against the Brooklyn Nets.

Embiid, the third overall draft pick out of Kansas in 2013, becomes the first center to lead the NBA in scoring in consecutive years since Buffalo’s Bob McAdoo did it three straight seasons, 1974-76.

Towering centers aren’t always the scoring leaders because they tend to play fewer minutes, get fewer transition baskets, and aren’t generally as prolific 3-point shooters as forwards and guards.

Chicago’s Michael Jordan is the NBA’s all-time leader in scoring titles with 10 between 1987 and 1998.

Next comes Wilt Cham- berlain with seven crowns between 1960 and 1966 with the Philadelphia and San Francisco Warriors and Philly 76ers.

Kevin Durant, George Gervin and Allen Iverson have four scoring titles each.

Here are the NBA’s other regular season statistical leaders:

Rebounds: Domantas Sabonis, Sacramento, 12.4

Assists: James Harden, Philadelphia, 10.7

Blocked shots: Jaren Jackson, Memphis, 3.0

Steals: O.G. Anunoby, To- ronto, 1.9

Field-goal percentage: Walker Kessler, Utah, 72.0

Three pointers made: Klay Thompson, Golden State, 295

Three-point percentage: Luke Kennard, Memphis, 49.4