The Philadelphia 76ers are a legitimate contender in the Eastern Conference this season even after the departure of James Harden. Part of the reason has been the emergence of Tyrese Maxey as an All-Star talent. But a major part of the Sixers strong season so far has been the continued MVP-level dominance of Joel Embiid. On a recent segment for NBA TV, Embiid reflected on a monster game he had last season against the Utah Jazz during which he dropped a career-high 59 points.

“A career night against Utah, it was fun, I liked dominating,” Embiid said. “I just felt like I was in a groove, scoring buckets after buckets. 59 points, 11 rebounds, eight assists, seven blocks, pretty good night. I was just glad that we got the win because this would not have been the same without the win.”

It was close to a quadruple double for Joel Embiid during the Sixers win against the Jazz that game. Embiid finished second in the MVP voting last season behind Denver Nuggets star Nikola Jokic. This season he's once again one of the leading candidates for the award.

Embiid has played in 26 games for the Sixers this season at a little over 34 minutes per game. He's averaging a league-leading and career-high 34.8 points per game, 11.8 rebounds, 6.2 assists, 1.2 steals and 2.0 blocked shots with splits of 53.9 percent shooting from the field, 35.3 percent shooting from the three point line and 88.7 percent shooting from the free throw line.

The Sixers are currently 23-11 and in third place in the Eastern Conference standings. They are four games back of the Boston Celtics for the first seed in the East.