Joel Embiid keeps delivering in the Kia MVP chase and had a 52-point game vs. Boston this week.

With the race coming down the final stretch, you can catch a nightly update on the top five candidates in our Kia MVP Tracker.

The penultimate edition of Kia Race to the MVP Ladder is here, and despite bold declarations to the contrary from Philadelphia 76ers coach Doc Rivers, this competition hasn’t yet reached the finish line.

“The MVP race is over,” Rivers said after Tuesday’s win against the Boston Celtics.

Not quite, though, as the handwringing and agonizing is just beginning for the global panel of 100 sportswriters and broadcasters tasked with deciding the outcome of what’s expected to end as one of the tightest MVP races in league history.

Joel Embiid inched a step ahead of the field sprinting down the final stretch by lighting up the Boston Celtics for 52 points on 20-for-25 shooting with 13 rebounds and six dimes Tuesday in a win for a Sixers squad that is No. 3 in the Eastern Conference.

The performance left the Sixers’ coach starry-eyed, but it likely didn’t deliver the knockout blow Rivers portrayed postgame in the eyes of the voters.

“The man just scored half our points in an NBA game,” Rivers said. “I’m biased, but the MVP race is over.”

Considering the diversity of a panel expected to weigh all the factors differently, we’re really just getting started.

So, while Embiid reclaims No. 1 in this latest edition of the Kia Race to the MVP Ladder, even after Philadelphia’s loss on Thursday to the Miami Heat, it’s not a sure thing he’ll remain once voters submit their ballots to the league by Monday’s 6 p.m. ET deadline. Reigning back-to-back MVP Nikola Jokic falls back to No. 2 on the ladder, after missing four of his team’s last five contests, including Thursday’s 119-115 road loss at Phoenix.

Giannis Antetokounmpo, meanwhile, stays at No. 3, while Jayson Tatum and Domantas Sabonis hold steady in fourth and fifth.

Embiid cranked out his third 50-point outing of the season in Tuesday’s win over the Celtics, becoming just the second player in history to produce a stat line of at least 50-10-5 while shooting 80% or better, according to research from Stathead. Detractors might point to the NBA’s scoring leader feasting on a shorthanded Boston squad playing without starting center Robert Williams III (left knee injury management).

But headed into Philadelphia’s 129-101 loss to Miami on Thursday, Embiid had averaged 34.1 points and 10 rebounds while shooting 59.6% over his 15 previous outings. The center’s production level over that span marked the first time it had been achieved since Shaquille O’Neal accomplished that level of output during the 1999-00 season.

Still, the question remains whether Embiid has played in enough games to walk away with the Michael Jordan Trophy?

We pointed out last week that Bill Walton (1977-78) is the only player to win the Kia MVP Award in a full 82-game season without participating in at least 71 games. Even if Embiid plays in Philadelphia’s last two games of the regular season, he’ll be at 68 games played.

Antetokounmpo, meanwhile, has played even fewer games than Embiid. But the former two-time MVP is the No. 1 player on the league’s best team, which clinched the league’s top win-loss mark (58-22) and the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference on Wednesday with a 105-92 win over the Chicago Bulls. Having logged his sixth triple-double of the season on Tuesday, Antetokounmpo ranks among the top five in the NBA in both scoring (career-high 31.1 points per game) and rebounding (11.8 rpg). In fact, the 28-year old is poised to become just the third player — and the first since Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in 1972-73 — to finish a season averaging 30-plus points, 10-plus rebounds and 5-plus assists while shooting 50% or better from the field.

“Best player, best record, what he does on both ends of the court, the rebounding, the blocked shots, the defense, guarding on the perimeter …” Milwaukee coach Mike Budenholzer said of Antetokounmpo on Sunday. “He does everything: play-makes, attacks, gets to the free-throw line. We feel like he’s in the conversation and should be the guy.”

Nuggets fans likely feel the same way about their favorite player.

As for Jokic, the back-to-back MVP has played in the most games among the top three candidates, while putting together the best season of his eight-year career, in addition to owning the league’s top net rating (12.8). Jokic is shooting a career-high 63.3% from the floor while averaging a career-high 9.8 assists without another NBA All-Star to help, as Denver clinched first place in the Western Conference on Wednesday for the first time in franchise history.

For the most recent updates on the performances of the top candidates, be sure to check out our Kia MVP Tracker.

And now, the top 5 in the 2022-23 Kia Race to the MVP Ladder:

1. Joel Embiid, Philadelphia 76ers

Last week’s ranking: No. 2

Season stats: 33.1 ppg, 10.2 rpg, 4.2 apg

There’s a belief among some that Embiid closed the book on the MVP debate with his performance in Tuesday’s win over the Boston Celtics. “When he gets it going like that, no one can stop him,” teammate P.J. Tucker said. But this race might be too close to reach hasty conclusions. There’s no doubting Embiid’s otherworldly production. Averaging 33.1 points and 10.2 rebounds, Embiid is about to finish the season with a stat line that’s been achieved on just 13 other occasions. Having produced three 50-point games this season, Embiid joins Abdul-Jabbar and Wilt Chamberlain as the only NBA centers to accomplish that feat in one season.

2. Nikola Jokic, Denver Nuggets

Last week’s ranking: No. 1

Season stats: 24.8 ppg, 11.9 rpg, 9.8 apg

Likely looking to rest the reigning two-time MVP before the playoffs, Denver kept Jokic out of the lineup for the fourth time in the past five games due to a right calf injury. The Nuggets had already clinched the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference ahead of Thursday’s loss at Phoenix. So it made sense to sit the veteran big man. Jokic has already played in 68 games this season and can reach 70 by playing Saturday against the Jazz and Sunday in the regular season-finale against the Kings. If Embiid plays the rest of the way, the maximum number of games he can reach is 68. In a race this close, the number of games played could be a tiebreaker for some voters.

3. Giannis Antetokounmpo, Milwaukee Bucks

Last week’s ranking: No. 3

Season stats: 31.1 ppg, 11.8 rpg, 5.7 apg

We haven’t forgotten how this two-way difference-maker helped the Bucks go 29-17 when Khris Middleton missed 39 of the team’s first 46 games. Antetokounmpo’s strong play is one of the main reasons Milwaukee heads to the postseason for the seventh consecutive season, the second-longest active streak in the NBA. Against the Wizards on Tuesday, Antetokounmpo logged his sixth triple-double of the season, and nearly did it in just three quarters (he was one assist shy). The two-time MVP also tallied two steals and a fourth-quarter chase-down block on Kendrick Nunn with his team leading by a comfortable margin.

4. Jayson Tatum, Boston Celtics

Last week’s ranking: No. 4

Season stats: 30.2 ppg, 8.8 rpg, 4.6 apg

Tatum rested on the second night of a back-to-back set on Wednesday, but he’s missed just three of the team’s last 15 games. Boston has won three of its last four games entering Friday’s home game vs. Toronto. Tatum was one of just four players under the age of 25 to score at least 9,429 points with 2,936 rebounds and 1,386 assists, joining the likes of LeBron James, Kevin Durant and Tracy McGrady. The club’s all-time leader in total points scored before the age of 25, Tatum — now 25 — is one of just two players (Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is the other) in the league scoring at least 30 ppg while averaging fewer than three turnovers.

5. Domantas Sabonis, Sacramento Kings

Last week’s ranking: No. 5

Season stats: 19.1 ppg, 12.4 rpg, 7.3 apg

Sabonis posted back-to-back triple-doubles this week, dropping 19 points to go with 11 rebounds and 11 assists Wednesday in Sacramento’s 123-119 loss to the Dallas Mavericks. In 78 games, Sabonis has produced a league-high 65 double-doubles, and he racked up his 14th triple-double against the Mavericks, a day after the Kings seized their first Pacific Division crown in 20 years on the heels of a 121-103 road win over the New Orleans Pelicans. Sabonis ranks as one of just three players — Antetokounmpo and Jokic are the others — in the league this season to average at least 15 points, 10 rebounds and five assists.

The Next Five:

6. Luka Doncic, Dallas Mavericks (Last week’s ranking: No. 6)
7. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Oklahoma City Thunder (Last week’s ranking: No. 7)
8. James Harden, Philadelphia 76ers (Last week’s ranking: No. 9)
9. Julius Randle, New York Knicks (Last week’s ranking: No. 8)
10. Kevin Durant, Phoenix Suns (Last week’s ranking: not ranked)

And five more (listed alphabetically): Devin Booker, Phoenix Suns; Jimmy Butler, Miami Heat; Anthony Davis, Los Angeles Lakers; De’Aaron Fox, Sacramento Kings; Donovan Mitchell, Cleveland Cavaliers

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Michael C. Wright is a senior writer for NBA.com. You can e-mail him here, find his archive here and follow him on Twitter.

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