PHILADELPHIA – The Philadelphia 76ers won their seventh straight National Basketball Association (NBA) game on Friday night, but they had to do it the hard way, rallying from a double-digit deficit to defeat the Los Angeles Clippers at home.
Joel Embiid scored 44 points, James Harden added 20 points, a career-high 21 assists and 11 rebounds as the Sixers fought back from 20 points down to clinch a 119-114 win and improve to 19-12, fifth place in the Eastern Conference.
“That’s big time for us. That just shows that we stayed together, we trust each other, and we know what we have to do,” Embiid said on ESPN.
“We started off the game soft, especially defensively, and as soon as we turned it up it changed the whole game.”
Harden’s 21 assists tied a franchise record shared by Wilt Chamberlain and Maurice Cheeks and helped the Sixers sweep their seven-game homestand.
“That’s some great company. Mo Cheeks was one of my coaches (in Oklahoma City), and then Wilt, I feel like he has every record,” Harden said.
“So just being in the conversation with some of the best basketball players to ever touch a basketball is always a blessing.”
Tobias Harris added 14 points, Shake Milton and De’Anthony Melton contributed 13 apiece and Georges Niang added 11.
Kawhi Leonard led the Clippers with 28 points, Paul George added 22 and Norman Powell had 21. Marcus Morris Sr. contributed 11, Nicolas Batum had 10 and Ivica Zubac had 12 rebounds.
The Clippers led 63-51 at half-time thanks in large part to 61 per cent shooting as well as 17 points from George and 13 from Leonard.
With 3min 37sec left in the second quarter, George converted a three-pointer from a Leonard assist to push the Clippers 58-38 ahead, but the Sixers refused to back down.
Philadelphia coach Doc Rivers was pleased with his two star men Embiid and Harden but reserved special praise for the latter.
“This is a generational scorer that has taken and decided to be a point guard, who still scores, but to be a point guard for this team,” he said.
“That’s hard to do. A lot of people, most people, can’t do that, or will not do it is a better way of saying it. The fact that he is willingly doing it, running the team, organising us, is huge for us.”
Elsewhere, Luka Doncic scored a season-high 50 points and sank a clinching three-pointer with 19 seconds remaining to carry the visiting Dallas Mavericks to a 112-106 win over the Houston Rockets.
He added eight rebounds, 10 assists and three steals while while finishing one point shy of his career high. REUTERS
