LOS ANGELES, Dec 23, 2023 (AFP) – Joel Embiid shook off an ankle injury to score 31 points and grab 10 rebounds Friday, propelling the Philadelphia 76ers to a 121-111 NBA victory over Toronto with his 13th straight game with at least 30 points and 10 boards.
Embiid, the reigning NBA Most Valuable Player, had plenty of support with Tyrese Maxey and Tobias Harris scoring 33 points apiece for the 76ers.
Embiid had an unfortunate first quarter, scoring just two points in the period after twisting his ankle in an awkward landing under the basket.
After a brief trip to the locker room, he finished the first half with 11 points, three rebounds, six assists and five turnovers.
Harris kept the Sixers afloat, scoring 24 first-half points to help them take a 61-58 lead at the break after the Raptors had led by as many as 15.
Embiid came alive in the third period, scoring 17 straight 76ers points in a run that saw him sprint for a transition basket off a feed from Maxey and drill a three-pointer that put the Sixers up 90-77.
Despite the occasional grimace of discomfort, Embiid extended the NBA’s longest stretch of 30-point, 10-rebound games since Kareem Abdul-Jabbar had 16 straight in 1971-72.
The Raptors, led by Pascal Siakam’s 31 points, got the deficit down to three late in the third before the Sixers pulled away again.
Maxey added 10 assists and Harris added eight rebounds and seven assists to his season-high in points as the Sixers won for the eighth time in their last nine games.
“Tobias is a really good player, does a lot of good things,” Philadelphia coach Nick Nurse said. “Sometimes shots find you, sometimes they don’t and tonight the ball found him a little more and he took advantage of it.”
Nurse said he wasn’t surprised the Sixers came out a little flat after beating Western Conference leaders Minnesota on Wednesday behind a 51-point performance from Embiid.
“It wasn’t just (Embiid),” Nurse said. “It was everybody.
“Then Joel got going … he started punching through, started making some jumpers … he just finally got in his rhythm and got the shooting going.”
Nurse said the team would keep an eye on Embiid’s ankle with a Christmas Day game at Miami coming up to start a four-game road trip.
“I’m sure it’ll be sore tomorrow,” Nurse said.
In Brooklyn, Jamal Murray scored 32 points and Nikola Jokic added 31 points with 11 rebounds as the reigning champion Denver Nuggets held off the Nets 122-117.
Aaron Gordon added 18 points and Michael Porter Jr. scored 15 for the Nuggets, who won their third straight.
– Heat down Hawks –
In a fourth quarter that featured six lead changes, Cam Thomas converted a four-point play with 19.4 seconds remaining to pull the Nets within one point at 115-114.
But Murray made three free-throws to extend the Nuggets’ lead and Denver held on.
Thomas led the Nets with 23 points. Cameron Johnson added 17 as seven Brooklyn players scored in double figures.
In Miami, Tyler Herro scored 30 points and Duncan Robinson added 21 of his 27 off the bench in the fourth quarter to fuel the Heat in a 122-113 victory over the Atlanta Hawks.
The Heat, who trailed by 11 early in the third quarter, withstood a 30-point, 13-assist double-double from Atlanta’s Trae Young, his sixth straight game with at least 30 points and 10 assists.
