The Philadelphia 76ers beat the Portland Trail Blazers 120-119 during the Friday night NBA slate thanks to a fadeaway jumper from Joel Embiid.
In the winning play, Embiid fought off a double-team from Jusuf Nurkic and Damian Lillard, scoring 39 points. Embiid basked in the glow of the sellout crowd’s chants of “M-V-P!” as he made the basket, which gave Philadelphia its first lead of the game. They had trailed by 21 points late in the first half.
“As I dribbled, I knew I had to step back,” Embiid said. “But I knew that I had to get to my spot, which is in that area. That’s a perfect spot from my previous years. At the top of the key, the court is wide open because guys don’t want to give up threes.”
After a timeout, Portland’s last-second attempt was tipped away, and Lillard’s shot came once the horn had been sounded. A comeback from 20 points down marked the third time this season that the 76ers (44-22) have managed to do so.
“Down 20, guys could have been saying the game is over and we moved on to the next one,” Embiid said. “But these guys keep on fighting. But we have to stop putting ourselves in these position.”
NBA NEWS & SCORES: Joel Embiid, Philadelphia 76ers & Portland Trail Blazers Updates
The Philadelphia 76ers got 19 points from James Harden despite some shooting struggles. For the fourth consecutive game, the 76ers won with 13 points each from Tyrese Maxey and DeAnthony Melton.
“It was not the prettiest win, but we’ll take it,” Harden said.
Portland was led by Anfernee Simons’ 34 points on 8-of-12 shooting from 3-point range. A total of 24 points were scored by Jeremi Grant and 22 points were scored by Lillard.
“We played a tough game and we played physical,” Lillard said. “Defensively, we got stops. When you play against a good team, it’s going to come down to those possessions at both ends of the floor. And I thought we competed. We had a lot of good possessions.”
Having missed seven of Portland’s last eight games because of a sprained right ankle, Simons was a game-time decision. During Portland’s first half run, he hit 5 of 6 threes, as the team hit 26 of its 38 shots from the field.
“For the most part, we had a great game,” Simons said. “They had a little run, but we played hard and we did everything we needed to do to win the game.”
NBA NEWS & SCORES: Joel Embiid, Philadelphia 76ers & Portland Trail Blazers Updates
Philadelphia switched defensive tactics in the second half after giving up 71 points in the first half, with Embiid roving out to the perimeter and Tucker anchored in the middle. After shooting 11 of 19 in the first half, Portland shot 4 of 17 after the break.
“The trapping was effective and trapped Lillard everywhere,” 76ers coach Doc Rivers said. “You can’t trap Lillard and Simons when they are both on the floor, but you can trap Simons when Lillard was off. I thought that was very effective.”
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