In their eighth straight loss, the struggling San Antonio Spurs were defeated 137-125 by the Philadelphia 76ers in part of the Friday night NBA slate. The Sixers were led by Joel Embiid, who tallied 33 points and 10 rebounds.
Philadelphia, which has the third-best record in the Eastern Conference, was led by Tyrese Maxey with 25 points and James Harden with 16.
“Tonight was one of those games where it was difficult to get up,” Harden said. “But you’ve got to still be professional. You’ve got to be an elite team. That’s where we are trying to get to consistently. We weren’t consistent enough tonight.”
Harden explained further: “We got a win, but we’ve got to try to be better overall.”
A season high of 26 points was achieved for the second straight game by San Antonio rookie Malaki Branham. He eclipsed his 22 points from Wednesday’s loss to Sacramento with 26 points in Saturday’s win.
NBA SCORES & NEWS: Joel Embiid, Philadelphia 76ers & San Antonio Spurs Updates
A nine-game road trip ends Feb. 28 for San Antonio, which finished its final home game with Keldon Johnson on 18 points and Jakob Poeltl on 16 points and 10 rebounds. Since opening 5-2, the Spurs have gone 9-37.
After San Antonio trimmed Philadelphia’s 22-point lead to 10 with five minutes left, Embiid, Harden and Tobias Harris returned to the court. The victory was sealed by eight points from Embiid and three rebounds from Harden combined in three and a half minutes.
“A couple of us older guys on the bench were happy for them when they brought it back all the way to like 10 or nine points,” Poeltl said. “Made them bring their starters back in. It was fun to watch them out there just playing free, playing aggressive.”
As a questionable player with a sore left foot, Embiid shot 10 for 18 from the field, 2 for 3 from beyond the arc, and 11 for 13 from the line during a 29-minute stint. On Thursday, Embiid earned the All-Star reserve honors and added four assists and two steals.
NBA SCORES & NEWS: Joel Embiid, Philadelphia 76ers & San Antonio Spurs Updates
Romeo Langford, who has started 19 games for the Spurs, was out with an injury, as were Devin Vassell, Jeremy Sochan, and Tre Jones. As a result of their absence, San Antonio committed 18 turnovers, which led to 26 points for Philadelphia.
“Giving up 26 points off turnovers makes it impossible (to win),” Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. “That was the most disappointing part of the game. Their grunt and their ability to just play the game is super, but taking care of the basketball is pretty important, and we didn’t do that tonight. That was the bad part of the game.”
The Eagles fell behind 8-1 after three straight turnovers. In the second quarter, the 76ers outscored the Spurs 47-35 after they were tied at 26 at the end of the first quarter. Harris’ fastbreak dunk built a 66-49 lead after Embiid dunk on a pass from Harden followed by a one-handed alley-oop dunk by Embiid. Philadelphia’s bench then outscored San Antonio’s by 67-42 after the second unit started a charge.
“That’s what we’re going to need from them,” Harden said. “Consistently they run their sets. With that unit, it’s about just getting stops. We get stops, we give ourselves a chance to get out in transition.”
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