Sixers roll Spurs for sixth consecutive win | Analysis

With less than a minute to play in the second quarter, Joel Embiid handled the ball with the intent to dunk, but he was fouled before he could slam it through the rim. He didn’t let a second opportunity go to waste less than 30 seconds later, driving for a one-handed poster dunk to send the Wells Fargo Center crowd into an awestruck frenzy.

That thunderous finish epitomized a dominant Friday night for Embiid and the Sixers, who rolled San Antonio, 119-100, to collect their sixth consecutive victory.

“The game is becoming easy, because we’re moving the ball,” said Embiid, who finished with 31 points, 12 rebounds, and 7 assists. “We play with each other. The ball is not sticking. Whatever play is called, we have first option, second option, third option, and we’re just playing together.”

The Sixers (22-16) raced out to a 21-point first-quarter lead, amassed 71 first-half points and countered each Spurs mini run. San Antonio got within 12 points with less than 10 minutes to play, but Tobias Harris immediately answered with a floater and added two free throws, before Seth Curry hit a pull-up jumper to extend the Sixers’ lead back to 105-88 with less than seven minutes to play.

The Sixers shot 51.7% from the floor and scored 23 second-chance points and 18 transition points in a game they never trailed.

“That was as good rhythm as I’ve seen from us [in] a while,” coach Doc Rivers said. “It just looked like the ball never stuck. Everybody got points in rhythm. We ran our stuff. So that was really good, and Joel is the leader of that all the time.”

The Sixers will go for seven wins in a row Monday at Houston, a team they blasted 133-113 at home less than a week ago.

The Sixers got productive performances from all three of their top players. Embiid, Harris, and Curry combined for 77 points, 26 rebounds, and 19 assists.

“That’s a hell of a 1-2-3 punch right there,” Harris said.

Embiid’s point total gave him six consecutive outings with 30 or more, eclipsing that benchmark on a put-back midway through the fourth quarter. The only other players in franchise history to record such a streak: Allen Iverson and Wilt Chamberlain. The Sixers are 11-2 this season in games Embiid scores 30 or more.

Embiid threw down two more driving dunks in the third period. He also manufactured 11 points on 15 attempts from the free-throw line on a night when he shot 10-of-23 from the floor.

Harris, who was booed on this floor Monday night, made eight of his first nine shots and finished with 23 points while aggressively getting downhill. He also totaled seven rebounds and five assists.

His spin and dunk gave the Sixers an early 18-7 lead, before a floater off a scramble for a loose ball extended that to 22-10 midway through the period. His put-back midway through the second quarter pushed the Sixers’ advantage to 51-36. He also hit a nifty turnaround jumper to give the Sixers an 87-71 lead in the third period.

Curry, meanwhile, put together another big first quarter (13 points) and finished with 23. He also totaled seven rebounds, after grabbing seven in Wednesday’s victory at Orlando, and seven assists while the Sixers continue to play without point guards Tyrese Maxey (health and safety protocols) and Shake Milton (back contusion).

Matisse Thybulle returned from a second stint in health and safety protocols to make an impact on both ends of the floor with 12 points on 5-of-5 shooting and two steals.

In the game’s opening minutes, he cut to the basket to collect a feed from Embiid for a dunk. When the Spurs cut the Sixers’ big lead to nine points in the second quarter, Thybulle buried a three-pointer from the right wing. Later in that period, he was on the receiving end of an over-the-shoulder pass from Embiid for another slam. He opened the third with another inside finish.

Thybulle was also tasked with guarding San Antonio standout Dejounte Murray, who finished with 27 points on 10-of-23 shooting and nine assists. Murray was most effective during a third-quarter outburst to try to keep the Spurs within striking distance, when he converted inside on a nice move to the bucket, hit two three-pointers and got inside for another finish.

“We just wanted to trap him,” Rivers said of the defensive plan for Murray. “We did an average job. He’s just got such a burst. It’s funny, even though you know he wants to go right, he still goes right.”

Danny Green, meanwhile, played 15 minutes off the bench while limited with calf tightness. Though he went 2-of-4 from the floor for 6 points, 2 rebounds, and 1 assist, it was an improvement on his 24-minute outing in Orlando when he did not take a shot or record a stat. And his corner three-pointer with less than four minutes to play was a big bucket to give the Sixers a 110-94 lead and squash the Spurs’ final threat.

There were stretches in all four quarters when Green and Thybulle shared the floor. It’s a look Green said he liked a couple of weeks ago when both players were healthy, though Rivers said “that ain’t gonna happen a lot.”

“But they can at times,” Rivers said. “You may do that if Tyrese was on the floor because you have the one ballhandler, but that’s just a dangerous rotation. But we had a lead, and we did it.”

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Charlie Brown, a Philly native and St. Joseph’s product, made an impact in his first action with his hometown team after signing a 10-day contract.

His first bucket as a Sixer was the result of a highlight play, when he got into the open floor to receive a long pass from Green off a steal for the banked-in and-one. In the third quarter, he grabbed an offensive rebound and dished to Curry for a three-pointer that pushed the Sixers’ lead to 94-74.

Brown finished with 3 points, 3 rebounds, and 1 assist. He previously spent time with Dallas on a 10-day contract after playing the bulk of the season for the G League’s Delaware Blue Coats. Rivers said conversations with Blue Coats coach Coby Karl and assistant J.P. Clark prompted him to use Brown when the Sixers needed a defensive lift.

“They just kept saying, ‘Watch his athleticism. He gets his hands on everything. You’ll really like him,’” Rivers said.

Braxton Key, who also signed a 10-day contract earlier this week, also made his NBA debut in the game’s final minutes and dished out an assist on an Aaron Henry layup.

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