PHILADELPHIA — Joel Embiid does it again. The Philadelphia 76ers superstar's best performance so far this season came against one of the very best teams, dropping 51 points on the Minnesota Timberwolves in a huge win.

The Sixers missed Nicolas Batum and Robert Covington and were without De’Anthony Melton for the second half. They were still able to defeat the Western Conference's top squad behind a marvelous Embiid performance. He ended his 36 minutes of action with 51 points on 17-25 shooting, 12 rebounds, three assists and two steals. But the big man came awfully close to coming just short of the half-century mark.

When Embiid needed just one more point to get to 50 with less than two minutes left, he came up empty at the free-throw line after 17 straight makes. Paul Reed snagged the long rebound and got it right back to Embiid, who got a jumper to fall and give him a new season-high and his second 50-point game of the season.

Joel Embiid and Tyrese Maxey, who scored 35 points, were the main contributors for the Sixers but Reed's fourth quarter deserves recognition. He had eight points, seven rebounds (three offensive) and three assists in just seven and a half minutes. This play to seal the deal put a nice finishing touch on a great performance.

When asked about that missed foul shot, Embiid joked that the pressure got to him.

“I missed it on purpose,” Embiid said. “I guess…the lights were too bright. That's why. Too much pressure on it to get the 50-piece. The lights were too bright. P-Reed made a great play, obviously, and I decided to stat pad and take the last shot to get to 50. That’s all that happened.”

That right there is Jarrett Allen's legacy, folks.

Joel Embiid missed a bunch of shots from the field early in the game, starting 1-6 from the field. The Sixers' superstar wasn’t sure he could get up to 50 points before embarking on a 16-19 shooting tear that got him past that mark and into another historical feat.

“With the way I started, I thought I was going shoot 2-30 with the way I started,“ Embiid said, adding that he's “still learning, still getting better at it. Tonight was a great step towards it as far as I just know when to be aggressive and when to take over and what to do when the time comes. So I just think, like I said, not forcing anything, just taking whatever the defense is giving me. Some nights, you're gonna make shots. Tonight I made a lot of them, a lot of those pull-ups. Some nights, I'm gonna miss it and that's also fine.”