There may not be a more physically-imposing, dominant presence in today's NBA than Philadelphia 76ers big man Joel Embiid. Possessing such a rare combination of agility, soft touch, and shot creation ability (particularly in the midrange) for a guy his size, Embiid confounds opposing defenses like few others.

And on Thursday night against the Portland Trail Blazers, Embiid was back at it again with another dominant performance to stamp his class as one of the best players in the entire NBA.

Joel Embiid, in 33 minutes of action, thoroughly outclassed his matchup in Jusuf Nurkic with a 32-point performance on 12-22 shooting from the field. And in doing so, he extended his streak of 30-point games on 50 percent shooting or better to seven to tie Shaquille O'Neal, who accomplished the feat in 2000, for the second-longest streak over the past 40 seasons, per The Athletic.

And of course, who else but Shaq has the longest such streak? From March 28 to April 17, 2001, Shaq scored 30 or more on 50 percent shooting or better for 11 straight games, with his beloved Los Angeles Lakers going 9-2 over that span.

Meanwhile, over the past seven games, the Sixers have gone 6-1, their only loss being a shocking defeat to the Oklahoma City Thunder at home. Even then, Joel Embiid had been a bastion of consistency this season; the 7'0 behemoth has scored 25 points or more in 25 separate occasions this season, with 21 of those games coming on 50 percent shooting or better from the field.

In the process, the Sixers have now tied the Milwaukee Bucks for the second-best record in the Eastern Conference after such an uneven start to the season. And with the Sixers now with their full-strength squad, there's no reason to expect them to slow down anytime soon.