Facing the sleepy Sixers, the Blazers start strong with an 18-6, including an excellent 3-point address (4/4). While the gap had risen to 15 points in favor of Portland, Doc Rivers’ men limited the damage thanks to 14 points from Joel Embiid by reducing the gap to eight points at the end of the 1st quarter (37 -29).
Despite Philadelphia’s “comeback” attempts, Damian Lillard and his band are in the zone and miss absolutely nothing, which allows them to take a 21-point lead (71-50). The Blazers lead by 15 points at the break against the Sixers who do not defend (71-56).
Upon returning from the locker room, the Sixers returned with other intentions and quickly reduced the deficit to ten points (76-66). But Philadelphia can not pick up, the fault of an Anfernee Simons on another planet. Back from injury, he compiled 29 points at 7/10 from 3-point range, allowing Portland to maintain a comfortable lead at the start of the last quarter (96-85).
But Philadelphia starts the 4th quarter strong. With a basket concluded with the fault of James Harden, the Sixers come back to only five points. But once again, Portland reacts to go back above the ten point mark. De’Anthony Melton again brings the Sixers to 5 points with just under five minutes to play.
James Harden reduces the gap to 2 points on a huge 3-point basket on the head of Jusuf Nurkic (114-112). At the last second, Joel Embiid turns into the hero of the evening to give victory to Philadelphia on a magnificent “fadeaway” on the head of poor Jusuf Nurkic, again him (120-119).
WHAT YOU MUST REMEMBER
– The Sixers heist. Led by 21 points in the second quarter, they chased the score all game. Truth be told, Philadelphia’s defense was on vacation and couldn’t slow down Portland’s attacks. Offensively, only Joel Embiid and a few bench players managed to keep the Sixers alive, before the room caught fire in the final five minutes. Philly was never in front in this match… until the last second and this sublime “game winner” from Joel Embiid on Jusuf Nurkic’s truffle.
– The very bad operation of the Blazers. This one is going to hurt a lot for Portland. A mess, there are no other words. Chauncey Billups players mastered most of the game before collapsing in the last five minutes when they still had a ten-point lead (114-104). A terrible operation at the level of the classification in a play-in race where each victory is worth gold.
TOPS/FLOPS
✅ Joel Embiid. In addition to his “game winner”, he once again achieved an MVP-caliber performance. He finished with 39 points at 13/20 shooting.
✅ Georges Niang and De’Anthony Melton. It was the duo who took the big shots when necessary, especially in the 4th quarter. Between them, they combined for 25 points at 7/11 from 3-pointers.
✅ Anfernee Simons. Back from injury, he was on fire all evening. He finished with 34 points at 13/22 shooting including 8/12 from 3-pointers!
✅Jerami Grant. Another solid performance for him. He finished in double-double with 24 points and 10 rebounds at 8/13 shooting including 50% from 3-pointers.
⛔️ Shaedon Sharpe. In a single point in 17 minutes on the floor…
⛔️ Jusuf Nurkic. He completely collapsed at the end of the match, missing 4 free throws in the “money time”.
THE FOLLOWING
Sixers (44-22): Wizards reception Sunday (11:00 p.m.).
Blazers (31-36): trip to the Pelicans overnight from Sunday to Monday (00:00).
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