Embiid helps 76ers beat Cavs for 6th straight victory

Joel Embiid had 36 points and 18 rebounds and played the final 4:12 after initially being called for his sixth foul, leading the Philadelphia 76ers to their sixth straight victory, 118-109 over the Cleveland Cavaliers on Wednesday night.

James Harden added 28 points and Tyrese Maxey had 23 for the Sixers. They were up 108-101 when Embiid was whistled for an offensive charge on Evan Mobley while making a jumper.

As Cleveland fans began to celebrate Embiid’s apparent disqualification, Sixers coach Doc Rivers immediately challenged the call, which was overturned after a replay review and the superstar was allowed to stay on the floor.

With Embiid in foul trouble, the Cavs attacked the rim and closed to 110107 before Maxey drained a 3-pointer and the 76ers made five straight free throws in the final 51 seconds to close it out.

Caris LeVert scored 24 points and Donovan Mitchell added 21 for the Cavs, who were playing the second night of a back-to-back. Cleveland was without center Jarrett Allen, who missed his third straight game with a bruised right eye.

ROCKETS 114, LAKERS 110 » Kevin Porter Jr. scored 27 points and Houston beat short-handed Los Angeles.

It’s the second straight victory for the Western Conference-worst Rockets, who beat Boston on Monday night.

Already without LeBron James because of an injury, the Lakers were also missing Anthony Davis against Houston. Davis, who had 35 points and 17 rebounds in a win over New Orleans on Tuesday night, isn’t playing both games of back-toback per doctors’ orders after coming back from a right foot injury.

Austin Reaves had 24 points off the bench for the Lakers.

KINGS 117, BULLS 114 » De’Aaron Fox hit a 3-pointer with 0.7 seconds left to lift Sacramento past Chicago.

Fox scored 32 points on 12-for-17 shooting, hitting four 3-pointers.

Domantas Sabonis had his second straight tripledouble and 11th of the season — finishing with 14 points, 17 rebounds and 10 assists — and Sacramento roared back in the second half with hot 3-point shooting.

Malik Monk had 19 points, going 5 for 8 on 3s as the Kings overcame a 10-point halftime deficit to win for the fourth time in five and improve to 9-2 in their last 11.

DeMar DeRozan led Chicago with 33 points.

HEAT 138, GRIZZLIES 119 » Bam Adebayo scored 26 points, Tyler Herro added 24 and Miami enjoyed a rare easy victory, beating Memphis.

Jimmy Butler scored 23 points, Max Strus had 12, Caleb Martin 11 and Kevin Love and Gabe Vincent each had 10. The Heat set a season high for points.

Jaren Jackson Jr. scored 25 for Memphis.

The Grizzlies played their sixth game without star guard Ja Morant, who was given an eightgame suspension by NBA Commissioner Adam Silver earlier Wednesday as the penalty for “conduct detrimental to the league” — in this case, “holding a firearm in an intoxicated state while visiting a Denver area nightclub” and live-streaming it March 4.

MAVERICKS 137, SPURS 128, OT » Christian Wood had 27 points and 13 rebounds and Dallas overcame a series of blunders at the end regulation to beat San Antonio in overtime without injured All-Stars Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving.

Dallas’ Maxi Kleber threw an inbounds pass out of bounds on a fulllength heave with 1.8 seconds remaining in regulation. Keldon Johnson, who missed a pair of free throws with 1.8 seconds, tied it 121 on an alley-oop dunk off an inbounds pass from Malaki Branham.

CELTICS 104, TIMBERWOLVES 102 » Jaylen Brown scored 35 points, Jayson Tatum added 22 and Bostons held on to beat Minnesota.

Malcolm Brogdon added 12 points off the bench for Boston, which overcame a tough shooting night to win for the third time in four games.