Embiid holds hot hand as 76ers blast the Bucks
Joel Embiid had 31 points and 11 rebounds to lift the host Philadelphia 76ers past the NBA’S top team, the Milwaukee Bucks, 121-109 on Wednesday.
It was Embiid’s seventh game this season with at least 30 points and 10 rebounds.
Ben Simmons had 15 points, 14 assists and seven rebounds for the Sixers, who won their third in a row and tied a franchise record with 21 made 3-pointers. Tobias Harris scored 22 points and went 5 of 7 from beyond the arc. Josh Richardson added 18 points, Furkan Korkmaz scored 16 and Al Horford had 11 points and 10 rebounds.
Khris Middleton led the Bucks with 21 points while Giannis Antetokounmpo added 18 points, 14 rebounds and seven assists, but he shot 8 for 27. George Hill scored 15 points as Milwaukee’s record dropped to 27-5.
The Sixers dominated the first half as they jumped out to a 69-48 advantage thanks to 23 points and seven rebounds from Embiid. Philadelphia made 11 treys, their most in any half this season.
The score could have been even more lopsided if not for Hill’s 12 points off the bench coming on 5-for-5 shooting. Milwaukee trailed by as many as 25 points in the third, its largest deficit of the season, and the Sixers extended the lead from there, going up 10073 at the end of the third.
Antetokounmpo drove to the lane and scored to cut the lead to 102-85 with 8:04 remaining.
On the Sixers’ next possession, Korkmaz made a 3-pointer, their 18th of the game, to push the lead back to 20.
Antetokounmpo appeared to be accidentally poked in the eye by Josh Richardson with 6:25 left and stayed down on the court for several minutes. Antetokounmpo then got up and was whistled for a technical foul for arguing with referee Tony Brothers.
Middleton hit a tough 3-pointer and Sterling Brown added a dunk to close within 115-106 with 1:52 left. But Harris sealed the win on the next possession, beating the shot clock with a 3-pointer for a 12-point advantage.
PACERS’ OLADIPO EYES LATE JANUARY RETURN
Indiana Pacers guard Victor Oladipo hopes to make his return from a ruptured right quad tendon in about a month, ESPN reported on Wednesday.
Per the report, Oladipo hopes to return as soon as late January or perhaps in early February, which would be about a year removed from his injury.
Oladipo was injured on Jan. 23 and has not played since, though he has steadily ramped up his rehab and workouts recently.
The Pacers were 32-15 at the time of his injury, before going 16-19 the rest of the season and getting swept by Boston in the first round of the post-season.
This year, the Pacers have started 21-10 without Oladipo, putting them within 11/2 games of second spot in the Eastern Conference.
Oladipo was in the middle of his second consecutive all-star campaign when he was hurt, averaging 18.8 points, 5.6 rebounds and 5.2 assists across 36 games.
In 2017-18, his first season with the Pacers, he averaged a career-high 23.1 points with 5.2 rebounds and 4.3 assists along with a league-best 2.4 steals per game.
The 27-year-old is in his seventh NBA season. He spent his first three with the Orlando Magic before one year in Oklahoma City.
He was acquired by Indiana — along with big man Domantas Sabonis — in exchange for Paul George in July of 2017.