What you missed this week in the NBA: Cavaliers, Embiid, weed

1. Embiid’s excellence

Joel Embiid or “Mr. 69 percent” — as dubbed by USA Today’s Sam Amick has been excellent thus far. He, along with Ben Simmons and Robert Covington, has led the 76ers to an 8-7 start. Despite losing Markelle Fultz early on due to injury, the Sixers are in the thick of playoff contention early. So, it looks like trusting the process has worked out so far.

But this is only the beginning, especially for Embiid. Embiid, who has struggled with injury throughout his young career, is starting the season with a bang. Most importantly, he’s remained injury free. Thus far, Embiid has put up eye-opening numbers. The 23-year-old is averaging 23 points and 11.2 rebounds per game through his first 12 games. But it’s not what he’s done over the course of the season that’s turning heads. It’s his Nov. 15 performance against the Lakers.

Many expected a shootout between the Sixers and the Lakers. The build-up for the game had been growing since before the season began and the first installment was finally here. The Lonzo Ball versus Ben Simmons matchup grabbed all of the attention. However, Embiid stole the show. Embiid finished the game with an incredible 46 points, 15 rebounds, seven assists and seven blocks. To put those numbers into perspective, nobody’s come close to those numbers since Dr. J — who retired in 1987.

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And if that wasn’t enough, Embiid took to social media to trash talk afterwards. He posted an Instagram photo of himself laying the ball up over Lonzo Ball, with the location “Lavar”. Embiid taught fans two valuable lessons on Wednesday night. One, don’t trash talk Embiid or he’ll clap back even harder when he makes you look like a fool. Two, Embiid’s got some serious talent and he turns it up when under the spotlight.