Clarkson, streaking Jazz down Simmons, 76ers in meeting of conference leaders
SALT LAKE CITY — Jordan Clarkson scored a season-high 40 points to send the streaking Utah Jazz past the Philadelphia 76ers 134-123 in a matchup of conference leaders Monday night despite a career-best 42 points from Ben Simmons.
Clarkson hit a career-high eight 3-pointers and Donovan Mitchell added 24 points to help the Jazz overcome an early 14-point deficit. Utah (23-5) has won eight straight games and 19 of 20.
Philadelphia (18-10) was minus big man Joel Embiid, a late scratch because of back tightness. Playing without his All-Star running mate, Simmons had 12 assists and nine rebounds — barely missing a triple-double. He easily topped his previous best of 34 points set on Dec. 7, 2019.
Tobias Harris scored a seasonhigh 36 points for the Sixers in a fast-paced game between championship hopefuls. Dwight Howard had 14 points and 12 rebounds in a reserve role.
Royce O’Neale hit consecutive 3pointers to quell Philadelphia’s final rally. His wing 3 to beat the shot clock gave Utah a 129-118 lead with 2:12 to play.
Joe Ingles added 20 points for the Jazz.
Simmons scored eight straight points in the fourth quarter to cut the Jazz lead to 110-104 with 8:40 left. Minutes later, he found Harris for a 3 to get Philadelphia within 113109.
Clarkson set his career scoring high for a game that ended in regulation. He had 42 points in a threeovertime loss to Brooklyn on Feb. 13, 2019.
Embiid was scratched after coming out to warm up, and coach Doc Rivers expressed surprise he wasn’t playing.
The Jazz scored 10 straight points as part of an 18-4 run to take their first lead in the second quarter and went up 67-59 on Bojan Bogdanovic’s jumper in the lane. Clarkson was the primary driver of the surge with 21 first-half points to help Utah build a 72-66 halftime lead.
The 76ers scored on 16 straight possessions in the first half and led 24-10 but couldn’t stop the Jazz much, either.
Simmons and Harris took turns isolating and driving to the basket with a full head of stream starting from beyond the 3-point line. Utah tried O’Neale, Rudy Gobert and others but they all had trouble stopping Simmons in the paint.
Simmons had 19 points in the first quarter, his most ever in one period. Shooting under 60 percent from the foul line during his career, Simmons went 12 of 13 on free throws in the game.