Joel Embiid recovered from an ankle injury to score 31 points and grab 10 rebounds Friday, propelling the Philadelphia 76ers to a 121-111 NBA victory over Toronto with his 13th straight game with at least 30 points and 10 rebounds .
Embiid, the reigning NBA Most Valuable Player, had plenty of support, with Tyrese Maxey and Tobias Harris scoring 33 points each for the 76ers.
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Embiid had an unfortunate first quarter, scoring just two points in the period after twisting his ankle on an awkward landing under the basket.
After a brief stay in the locker room, he finished the first half with 11 points, three rebounds, six assists and five turnovers.
Harris kept the Sixers afloat, scoring 24 points in the first half to help them take a 61-58 lead into the break after the Raptors led by 15.
Embiid came alive in the third half, scoring 17 straight points for the 76ers in a run that saw him sprint for a transition basket on a pass from Maxey and drill a three-pointer that put the Sixers up 90-77.
Despite occasional grimaces of discomfort, Embiid extended the NBA’s longest streak of 30-point, 10-rebound games since Kareem Abdul-Jabbar had 16 in a row in 1971-72.
The Raptors, led by Pascal Siakam’s 31 points, cut the deficit to three late in the third before the Sixers pulled away again.
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Maxey added 10 assists and Harris added eight rebounds and seven assists to his season-high in points as the Sixers won for the eighth time in their last nine games.
“Tobias is a very good player, he does a lot of good things,” Philadelphia coach Nick Nurse said. “Sometimes the shots find you, sometimes they don’t and tonight the ball found him a little more and he took advantage of it.” Nurse said he wasn’t surprised the Sixers came out a little flat after beating Western Conference leader Minnesota on Wednesday thanks to a 51-point performance from Embiid.
“It wasn’t just (Embiid),” Nurse said.
“It was everyone.
“Then Joel got going…he started drilling, doing some jumps…he finally found his rhythm and made the shot.” Nurse said the team will keep an eye on Embiid’s ankle with a Christmas Day game at Miami coming up to begin a four-game road trip.
“I’m sure it will be painful tomorrow,” the nurse said.
In Brooklyn, Jamal Murray scored 32 points and Nikola Jokic added 31 points with 11 rebounds as the defending champion Denver Nuggets held off the Nets 122-117.
Aaron Gordon added 18 points and Michael Porter Jr. scored 15 for the Nuggets, who earned their third straight victory.
In a fourth quarter that featured six lead changes, Cam Thomas converted a four-point play with 19.4 seconds remaining to bring the Nets within one point at 115-114.
But Murray made three free throws to extend the Nuggets’ lead and Denver held on.
Thomas led the Nets with 23 points. Cameron Johnson added 17 as seven Brooklyn players scored in double figures.
In Miami, Tyler Herro scored 30 points and Duncan Robinson added 21 of 27 off the bench in the fourth quarter to power the Heat to a 122-113 win over the Atlanta Hawks.
The Heat, trailing by 11 points early in the third quarter, held off a 30-point, 13-assist double-double from Atlanta’s Trae Young, his sixth straight game with at least 30 points and 10 assists.
FULL NBA RESULTS
Sixers 121-111 Raptors
Nets 117-122 Nuggets
Rockets 122-96 Nonconformists
Heat 122-113 Falcons
kings 120-105 Suns
Warriors 129-118 Wizards
