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.
As the Sixers won for the eighth time in their past nine games, Maxey added 10 assists and Harris added eight rebounds and seven assists to his season-high in points.
“Tobias is a really good player, he 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 shocked the Sixers came out flat after defeating Western Conference leaders Minnesota on Wednesday thanks to Embiid’s 51-point performance.
“It wasn’t just (Embiid),” stated Nurse.
“Everyone was involved.
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.
The Nuggets won their third straight game thanks to Aaron Gordon’s 18 points and Michael Porter Jr.’s 15.
Cam Thomas made a four-point play with 19.4 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter to draw the Nets within one point, 115-114.
But Murray hit three free throws to extend Denver’s lead, and the Nuggets held on.
Thomas led the Nets in scoring with 23 points. Seven Brooklyn players scored in double figures, led by Cameron Johnson’s 17.
In Miami, Tyler Herro scored 30 points and Duncan Robinson added 21 of his 27 points off the bench in the fourth quarter to help the Heat beat the Atlanta Hawks 122-113.
The Heat trailed by 11 points 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.
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