Joel Embiid punctuates career-high 49 points with celebration dance

Joel Embiid’s relationship with Philadelphia 76ers fans has been a bit strained lately.

The fifth-place 76ers are underperforming, and Embiid’s had some less-than cordial exchanges with the home crowd despite an NBA-best 26-2 home record at the Wells Fargo Center.

But it was all love on Monday night. Embiid took full advantage of a juicy matchup against the Atlanta Hawks to the tune of a career-high 49 points. His final three points arrived from behind the arc as the shot clock wound down late in Philadelphia’s 129-112 victory.

Do a little dance

When his 3-pointer splashed through the net, Embiid egged on the home crowd before doing a little dance in the backcourt.

Embiid added 14 rebounds, three assists and three steals to his career-high scoring effort.

Of course, 76ers fans would like to see this kind off performance in games like Saturday’s 119-98 road loss to the first-place Milwaukee Bucks. Embiid finished with 17 points on 5-of-18 shooting from the field against the much stiffer Bucks competition.

But even against weak competition, Embiid’s performance on Monday was worth the home crowd getting excited.

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