Redick scores 34 points, Sixers get past Nuggets
PHILADELPHIA >> JJ Redick scored a season-high 34 points, Jimmy Butler had 22 and the new-look Philadelphia 76ers beat the Denver Nuggets 117-110 on Friday night.
Tobias Harris had 14 points and eight rebounds in his first game for Philadelphia and Joel Embiid scored 15 and grabbed 12 boards despite playing with a stomach flu.
Nikola Jokic led Denver with 27 points and Jamal Murray had 23. The Nuggets, who have the secondbest record (37-18) in the Western Conference behind Golden State, were missing two of their top five scorers: Gary Harris and Paul Millsap.
Tobias Harris hit a jumper to give the Sixers a 105-103 lead with under four minutes left and then grabbed a rebound to set up Embiid’s layup. Butler stole the ball, got fouled and hit a pair of three throws to extend the lead to 109-103. Ben Simmons’ driving, lefthanded dunk over Mason Plumlee thrilled the crowd and deflated the Nuggets. Sixers legend Allen Iverson jumped from his courtside seat and smacked hands with fans after Simmons’ thunderous slam.
Philadelphia (35-20) is ted with Boston for the fourth spot in the East.
The Sixers took a 50-34 lead when Simmons lobbed an alley-oop pass to Butler for a one-handed jam and Ennis hit a 3 off a crosscourt pass from Harris. But Denver answered with a 22-6 run to tie it at 56 at halftime. Philly led 83-82 after three quarters.
Harris helped ignite an early 10-0 run. He hit a 3-pointer, 8-footer and dished to Redick for an open 3 to cap the burst. Marjanovic got a loud ovation when he entered the game midway through the first and another one after he scored on a driving layup.
years of their contracts.
“I’ve gotten all assurances from the managing partners that we can bring them back and sign them for whatever it takes to sign them. We want to keep this core long term,” Brand said.