Denver Nuggets guard Jamal Murray and Philadelphia 76ers center Joel Embiid each scored a career-high 50 points in wins on Friday.
Murray scored his regular-season career high on rare efficiency, shooting 21 of 25 from the field in 38 minutes — including eight 3-pointers — in the Nuggets’ 120-103 win against the Cleveland Cavaliers. In the Sixers’ 112-105 win against the Chicago Bulls, Embiid added 17 rebounds, five assists and four blocked shots to his 17-of-26 shooting night, which included a step-back jump shot with 41.8 seconds left to seal the victory.
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Murray, who scored 50 points twice in the playoffs last season, joined Wilt Chamberlain as the only players in NBA history to make 84 percent of their field goal attempts on 25 or more attempts. Against the Detroit Pistons in 1965, Chamberlain scored 53 points on 21 of 25 from the field, but he needed 11 of 15 from the free throw line. On Friday, Murray did not attempt a free throw.
Embiid, the league leader in free throw attempts per game (11.3) this season, went 15 of 17 from the line. He became the first Sixer to log 50 points, 17 rebounds and five assists in a game since Chamberlain in 1968.
How Murray was so successful tonight
Kelsey Russo, Cavaliers beat writer: He was able to make the tough, contested shots. Murray found different looks on the court and split the traps the Cavs tried to use against him. Even towards the end, when the Cavs continued to double-team him, he was able to break through. The Cavs' defensive effort against Murray wasn't particularly bad, as they tried to be more physical with him and challenge his shots, but it was just an instance of once he got hot, it was hard to stop him.
What does this do for Embiid's MVP case?
Derek Bodner, 76ers beat writer: Embiid scored 50 points for the first time in his career, which gives some visibility into the incredible scoring season he is having and might help build some momentum in his push for the league's MVP award.
More telling, though, was how the Sixers relied on him down the stretch. With Ben Simmons missing the game and the Sixers' bench struggling, Embiid was involved in everything the Sixers did on Friday night. If the MVP is the league's most indispensable superstar, Friday night's game highlighted Embiid's case for the award.
How does Murray find regular-season consistency?
Nick Kosmider, Denver writer: Before Murray went nuclear in the bubble last summer, scoring 142 points in one three-game stretch, he had quietly started to find his rhythm before the pandemic shutdown. He carried that momentum into Orlando, where he splashed onto the national scene.
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He appears to be finding the same rhythm now, averaging 31.4 points in his last five games, including a combined 85 points in his last two. Murray has been a notoriously slow starter in the NBA, but if he is starting to near that bubble rhythm once again, the Nuggets should be well on their way to climbing out of their early-season hole.
Murray scoring 50 points with no free throw attempts is ______.
Seth Partnow, NBA analytics writer: Literally unprecedented. In Basketball Reference's database, players had scored 40 or more points with no free throw attempts 13 times. The previous high-scoring, zero-free throw game was 48 points, set by both Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (in January 1973) and Hakeem Olajuwon (in January 1997).
However, Murray's game is only tied for the most efficient 50-point game this season, as Murray's 50 points on 25 shooting possessions was slightly superseded by Fred VanVleet managing 54 on 27 shooting possessions just over two weeks ago.
(Photo: David Richard / USA Today)