Simons blazes trail with triple double
Los Angeles, Jan. 4: Anfernee Simons scored a career-best 43 points as the Portland Trail Blazers snapped a four-game losing streak with a 136-131 win over the Atlanta Hawks on Monday.
Simons shot 13 of 21 from the floor, drained nine of 16 from the three-point line and sank all eight of his free throws in front of a crowd of 15,100 at the Moda Center arena.
Trae Young led the Hawks by scoring an NBA season-high 56 points.
Young’s 56-points surpassed Kevin Durant’s 51point performance for the Nets at Detroit on December 12. Golden State’s Stephen Curry and Boston’s Jaylen Brown have also had 50-point games this season. Young also became the first player with 50-plus points and 14plus assists in an NBA game since James Harden did it with the Houston Rockets in 2016.
The game marked Young’s second 50-point performance of his career, as he previously scored 50 against Miami on February 20, 2020.
Portland played without Damian Lillard, CJ McCollum and Cody Zeller.
Trail Blazers coach Chauncey Billups was back on the bench after missing three games due to Covid measures. Norman Powell scored 26 points and Nassir Little added 22 in the win for Portland.
Elsewhere, Joel Embiid posted his third career triple double with 31 points, 15 rebounds and 10 assists to power the Philadelphia 76ers past the struggling Houston Rockets 133-113.
Furkan Korkmaz added
24 points and a career-high
11 rebounds, Isaiah Joe scored 18 points, Seth Curry contributed 15 and Tobias Harris had 14 as the Sixers won their fourthstraight game. —