Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports

Joel Embiid was called unstoppable by Eddie Johnson after his legendary 59-point performance against the Utah Jazz.

Joel Embiid's dominant 59-point performance will not be forgotten by fans anytime soon. The performance ranks among the greatest individual performances in the modern history of the NBA. The MVP runner-up in the last 2 years has started this season off slow but is going to make a run up the MVP ladder after a performance that incredible.  

Former NBA player and Phoenix Suns' analyst Eddie Johnson has hailed Joel Embiid as unstoppable on the court and a complete player, minus the ability to hit 3s.

"You can't miss many games if you want to be MVP, but this is the way to make up for it. These last 8 games, he's been pretty much dominant offensively. Nobody's stopping them. The Suns got whooped up on the other day and he had 33. He's on an unstoppable run. The one thing that holds Joel Embiid back from being able to show that dominance through the season and garner the MVP is to stay on the court. But when he's healthy and feeling good, he's pretty much unstoppable. there's nothing he can't do. He can't shoot 3s but he continues to do it. Other than that, he's pretty much unstoppable on the court." 

For his size, Embiid has a perfectly reasonable 3-pointer, though he doesn't need to use it as often as he tries to. Joel is averaging 32.3 points, 10.1 rebounds, and 4.1 assists this season. 

Is This The Year For Joel Embiid To Finally Win MVP?

Embiid's performance against the Jazz unquestionably puts him in the MVP conversation, a place he has been for the last few years without being able to beat Nikola Jokic. This year, his biggest rivals for MVP will be Giannis Antetokounmpo and Luka Doncic, with Jayson Tatum also generating some buzz.

The 76ers have a very poor record to start the season, sitting at 7-7 after a 1-4 start that put Doc Rivers' job on the line. Whether the 'mystery team' looking to hire Ime Udoka are Philly is unknown, but if Embiid keeps performing at such a high level, he will save Doc from getting fired.

The 76ers don't have the win/loss record needed by an MVP and Embiid's overall season stats are not as good as Luka and Giannis so far, so he has a lot of work to do. But he's definitely thrown his name in the hat.   

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