After a dominant month, Philadelphia 76ers star Joel Embiid has won Player of the Month for December according to the Tha Athletic’s Shams Charania.
The Sixers superstar center Joel Embiid secured the honors after performing at a peak level in every facet of his game last month, both on offense and defense.
Embiid certainly carried the load offensively, averaging 29.2 points per game, a significant increase from his pre-December average of 22.8 points per game. In December, Joel Embiid also got it done on the boards, averaging 11.2 rebounds per game, another increase from his season average of 10.3.
His assists went down slightly from the 4.0 he was averaging pre-December down to 3.9, but with that decrease came a significant decrease in turnovers per game. For the season, pre-December, Embiid was averaging 3.5 turnovers per game compared to the month of December, where he averaged only 2.1. Offense is only half of the reason Joel Embiid’s elite play won him Player of the Month.
Joel Embiid has also more or less maintained his shot-blocking prowess, and he still remains a threat and an anchor in the paint. His December average is 1.3 blocks per game, while his pre-December average was 1.5 blocks per game, a slight decrease. However, Embiid was far more active in getting steals as well, improving from 0.8 steals per game in his pre-December stats to 1.5 steals over the course of the month.
Joel Embiid also started righting the ship on the Sixers season, posting an 8-6 record over the month. He put the team on his back while Simmons watches from the sidelines, and Tobias Harris is in one of the worst shooting slumps of his career.
In the month of December, Embiid has had to step up as the only max player on the Sixers who is playing well. Tobias Harris has been struggling in December with shooting percentages of 41.6% from the field and 26.7% from three. With so much going wrong, MVP-level Joel Embiid has returned to full form. Embiid is playing elite offense and defense that will hopefully carry over into the new year as he looks to get the Sixers into a deep run in the playoffs. Until then, congratulations to Joel Embiid on being the East Player of the Month.
