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Joel Embiid scores 41 points as Sixers pull away to top Los Angeles Clippers, 120-110

The Sixers had had enough of close calls in their West Coast swing of games and worked well together to win the game against the Clippers more comfortably.

LOS ANGELES — Joel Embiid raised his arms from the visitors’ bench, his work complete with nearly three minutes still on the game clock.

His team had built a double-digit first-half lead, again, and surrendered it, again. But there was no need for any late-game heroics this time, as the Sixers used a big fourth quarter against the Los Angeles Clippers to pull away to a 120-110 victory Tuesday night at Crypto.com Arena.

“This is better,” said coach Doc Rivers, in a reference to the Sixers’ one-point victories at the Utah Jazz and Los Angeles Lakers over the weekend. “I’ll take this. We don’t want three in a row. What was great about tonight is ... we didn’t stop. It didn’t faze us.

“[The Clippers are] good. They really are good. Their record doesn’t say that, but I’m telling you, they’re good. We just kept playing, and that’s who we have to become. We can’t get frazzled when teams make runs at you, especially on the road.”

The Sixers (28-16) used a 21-5 fourth-quarter surge to turn a 96-93 lead into a 117-98 advantage that carried them to their eighth win in their last 10 games. Tyrese Maxey, who came off the bench but was in the closing lineup for the second consecutive game, scored seven of his 22 points during that decisive run, including a three-pointer and transition layup and two free throws.

Embiid finished with 41 points (12-of-22 from the floor, 15-of-18 from the free-throw line) and nine rebounds, while Tobias Harris had 20 points, six assists, six rebounds and a career-high-tying five steals.

The Sixers led by as many as 14 points in the first half, after shooting 59% from the floor, scoring 18 fastbreak points and parlaying 10 Clippers turnovers into 15 points before the break.

» READ MORE: The Sixers are aiming to halt their slippage on defense, especially in transition: ‘We’ve got to be better’

But the Clippers (23-23) opened the third on a 19-9 run and outscored the Sixers 37-27 overall in the period, including a finish inside by Ivica Zubac to give the Clippers their first lead, at 79-78, with less than four minutes remaining and a Terance Mann driving layup to extend that advantage to three points.

Kawhi Leonard led the Clippers with 27 points on 10-of-20 shooting, while Paul George added 13 points and eight rebounds.

The Sixers will conclude their five-game road trip Thursday at the Portland Trail Blazers and Saturday at the Sacramento Kings.

Embiid’s hot start

Embiid’s scorching starts are becoming so routine that Rivers did not even realize the center already had 28 points at the half. It was Embiid’s seventh half this season with at least 25 points, which was tied for the most in the NBA entering Tuesday.

The All-NBA big man reached that mark at the break on 10-of-15 from the floor and 6-of-8 from the free-throw line while calmly countering a variety of defensive looks from the Clippers.

“In the past, the more energy toward him, he [would get] quick with the ball,” Rivers said. “Tonight, he just took his time and picked them apart. ... Where he’s gotten so much better is he allows it to just come to him at times. He doesn’t force it.”

Embiid scored nine points in the first five minutes, including a mid-range pull-up, a three-pointer and a follow off a Harris miss. Following his rest, he immediately powered his way to an and-1 finish, then converted a transition layup. After perhaps his only blemish — whiffing on an attempted alley-oop layup — he buried a three-pointer just before the halftime buzzer to give the Sixers a 63-52 lead.

“On any given night, depending on how teams guard me,” Embiid said. " … I’ve just got to figure it out and make plays, whether it’s to score or make plays for my teammates.”

Harris homecoming

Harris, who played for the Clippers from 2018-19, sure looked comfortable facing his former team — especially in the first half. He scored 14 of his 20 points in the first half, initially while playing with a lineup of Maxey, Shake Milton, Georges Niang and Montrezl Harrell.

During that stretch, he hit a couple tough pull-up jumpers. Then as the starters began to filter back in, he buried a corner three-pointer to push the Sixers’ lead back to 53-41 with about four minutes to play in the half. Later, he finished a layup in traffic to make the score 58-48.

Harris credited Harrell with setting screens that allowed him to attack downhill and open up the rest of his offensive game.

“I was able to be aggressive and find some opportunities and good looks for myself,” Harris said.

Yet Rivers was even happier with Harris’ defense. Two nights after guarding the Lakers’ LeBron James in crunch time of Sunday’s victory, Harris spent stretches defending Clippers stars Leonard and George.

“We wouldn’t have put him on any of those guys when I was here [with the Clippers] — really,” Rivers said of his past with Harris in Los Angeles. “ … He’s just working hard. He knows there’s nights he’s going to get the ball [offensively]. There’s nights he’s not going to get the ball. But there’s other ways to help teams win, and he’s doing that.”

Sixth Man Maxey, Part 2

Maxey has immediately embraced his new role as a sixth man, publicly referring to himself as part of the “bench mob” relied on to provide a lift when the starters rest.

Maxey started slow but was massively impactful late, scoring 13 fourth-quarter points and finishing with a game-high plus-23. He opened the final period with three consecutive off-the-dribble three-pointers and two free throws to put the Sixers up, 101-93. Then his layup with less than six minutes to play extended that advantage to 111-98.

“It’s going to be a big stint from us in the third quarter,” Maxey said he told Niang and Milton before their second-half run. “It’s going to be very important that we go out here and try to build this lead — or get the lead back — and that’s what we went out there and did.”

» READ MORE: Why Tyrese Maxey suggested his move to bench for Sixers: ‘You’ve just got to be the bigger person’

Maxey first entered for starter De’Anthony Melton at the 5:15 mark of the first quarter, and hit an off-balance jumper through contact for the old-fashioned three-point play just before the buzzer. His high-arching jumper early in the second gave the Sixers a 39-27 advantage. He also played the final two minutes of the first half.

He came in again around the same point in the third quarter, rattling home a jumper in the period’s final minute and nearly making another tough shot when a foul was called before the ball fell off the rim.

Niang (nine points on 3-of-4 from deep), Milton (four points, two assists) and Harrell (three points, two rebounds) quickly followed Maxey as subs late in the first quarter, while Matisse Thybulle did not play until late in the third quarter.

Tucker, who has played sparingly during fourth quarters recently, was part of the closing lineup before the benches emptied instead of Melton.