Sixers beat Wizards for fifth straight win
Joel Embiid scored 34 points, James Harden had 18 points and 14 assists and the Philadelphia 76ers cruised to a wire-to-wire 112-93 win over the fading Washington Wizards on Sunday.
Tobias Harris added 11 points and De’anthony Melton 10 for the 76ers (45-22), who have won five in a row to keep pressure on Milwaukee and Boston for the top two seeds in a crowded Eastern Conference.
Washington (31-37) got a career-high 25 points from Corey Kispert and 13 from Bradley Beal, but dropped its fifth game in its last six. The Wizards also fell out of a tie for the 10th and final spot in the Eastern Conference’s play-in tournament.
Darius Garland had 28 points, Donovan Mitchell added 23 and Cleveland overcame a 16-point second-half deficit for its fourth win in the last five games.
Evan Mobley added 18 points and nine rebounds for the Cavaliers (43-27), who trailed most of the game.
Garland, who sat out Friday night’s loss to Miami with a quad injury, shot 8 of 20 from the field and was 10 of 13 from the foul line, including a free throw with 10.7 seconds left to seal the win.
Terry Rozier had 27 points to lead the Hornets, who were playing their second game in less than 24 hours. P.J. Washington added 19 points and Nick Richards had 15 points and 12 rebounds for Charlotte (22-48).
Trey Murphy III hit a career-best nine 3-pointers to highlight his career-high 41 points, and New Orleans won for the second time in two games as it tries to stay in contention for a Western Conference postseason berth.
CJ Mccollum had 22 points and 11 assists for New Orleans, which made 18 of its first 30 3-point attempts as a team before finishing 19 of 40 (47.5%) from deep. Josh Richardson scored 19 points for the Pelicans.
Herbert Jones added 16 points, and Jonas Valanciunas
had 11 points and 12 rebounds to help New Orleans win handily despite playing for a second straight game without high-scoring wing Brandon Ingram (right ankle).
Anfernee Simons scored 17 for Portland, while Shaedon Sharpe and Kevin Knox each scored 14 points and Cam Reddish added 11.
Jalen Williams scored 21 points and Oklahoma City used a balanced effort on offense without Shai Gilgeous-alexander to beat San Antonio.
Ousmane Dieng had 17 points and Josh Giddey added 17 for the Thunder, who won their second in a row and fifth in six games. Oklahoma City tied Utah for 10th place in the West at 3335, but the Thunder hold the tiebreaker after winning the season series 2-1.
San Antonio’s Zach Collins had 23 points and 11 rebounds for his ninth career double-double. Devonte’ Graham added 20 points. have to remember what’s allowed us to be as successful as we have been. That always starts with defense and rebounding, running and executing.”
The other component Malone reinforced to his squad was that nothing mattered more than the next opponent.
Jokic entered the halftime break with 19 points, 11 rebounds and seven assists. He played an aggressive brand of basketball as if to say, ‘We’re a better team than we’ve shown of late’. His chemistry with Porter shined. In one tantalizing sequence, Jokic swatted a Nets attempt on one end, then threw an outlet to Porter for a transition 3-pointer. Jokic stole the next possession, too, then outleted to Aaron Gordon for another 3-pointer.
Porter poured in 19 points, including 3-of-4 from outside. Following a relatively quiet first half, Murray ended the second quarter with a 34-foot 3-pointer. Before heading to the locker room, he reveled in his shot, high-fiving a few courtside fans along the way.