Simmons exits with knee injury
The Philadelphia 76ers showed they could hold it together — at least for a little while — without All-Stars Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons.
Simmons left the game in the third quarter with a knee injury, and Embiid battled through late foul trouble to finish with 30 points and 11 rebounds as the 76ers held on to beat the Washington Wizards 107-98 on Wednesday.
There was no immediate word from the 76ers on the extent of Simmons’ injury, which occurred when he landed awkwardly after grabbing an offensive rebound. At the next break in the action he walked gingerly to the locker room and did not return.
He was shown leaving the locker room in street clothes late in the fourth quarter.
Coach Brett Brown said after the game the team doesn’t know anything on the extent of the injury but that “obviously, I’m very curious.”
Tobias Harris added 17 points for the 76ers, who pulled within a game of the Pacers for fifth place in the East.
The win was anything but easy for the 76ers, who needed others to step up when their two stars had to sit down.
Embiid picked up his fourth and fifth fouls within a span of 20 seconds and left the game with 6:55 remaining and the 76ers leading 89-83. But Harris made a jumper and Shake Milton converted a 3-pointer and a turnaround jumper to help maintain the lead before Embiid returned to help close the game out.
Jazz 124, Grizzlies 115 — Joe Ingles scored 12 of his 25 points in the fourth quarter, and the Utah Jazz kept the Memphis Grizzlies winless in the NBA bubble.
Mike Conley had 23 points and seven assists against his former team for the Jazz (43-25), who improved to 2-2 in the seeding round and nudged ahead of Houston (42-25) for the fourth spot in the Western Conference standings.
Dillon Brooks scored 23 points, while Grayson Allen had a career-high 20 points and six 3-pointers as the Grizzlies dropped to 0-4 in the seeding round.
Nuggets 132, Spurs 126 — Michael Porter Jr. had 30 points and 15 rebounds, and the Denver Nuggets rallied in the fourth quarter to beat the San Antonio Spurs.
Nikola Jokic added 25 points and 11 assists. Jerami Grant finished with 22 points.
Two days after posting a career-high 37 points in Denver’s win over Oklahoma City, Porter stayed hot, scoring 10 of the Nuggets’ first 16 points against San Antonio.
Denver (45-23) led by as many as 12 in the first half before falling behind by nine in the third quarter. But the Nuggets found their footing in the final period, using a 13-4 run to nudge back in front 110-101 with 5:42 to play. The Spurs dropped to 2-2 in restart play.
Thunder 105, Lakers 86 — Chris Paul had 21 points, seven rebounds and six assists in the Oklahoma City’s victory over poor-shooting Los Angeles Lakers.
Danilo Gallinari scored 19 points and Steven Adams had 18 for the Thunder (42-25), who never trailed in their first win over the Lakers in four meetings this season.
LeBron James had 19 points and 11 rebounds for the Lakers (51-16), who went a season-worst 5 for 37 on 3-pointers and made only 35% of their shots overall.