Los Angeles (United States) (AFP) – The Philadelphia 76ers, fueled by 36 points from Tyrese Maxey and a triple-double from Joel Embiid, beat the Houston Rockets 128-122 in an NBA overtime thriller on Thursday. The Cameroonian big man Embiid scored 32 points, grabbed 15 rebounds, and handed out 10 assists, posting the ninth triple-double of his career to help the Sixers end the Rockets’ three-game winning streak. Rockets star Kevin Durant scored 36 points and Amen Thompson added 17, but Thompson was scoreless in the fourth quarter.
Even so, the Rockets led by nine midway through the final frame, with Maxey tying it at 115-115 with 40.1 seconds left. Durant missed a potential go-ahead basket and then blocked a Maxey shot as they went to overtime, with the Sixers arguing for a goaltending call that would have sealed a win for them, but it didn’t come. Philadelphia opened the extra session with five straight points and held on for a win punctuated by a Maxey dunk.
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“We locked in,” Embiid said. “Obviously it starts on defense. We played faster, we didn’t walk the ball up. At the end of fourth and overtime we executed.” Embiid mentioned that Philadelphia did a better job guarding Durant in the second half. “Obviously, it’s KD,” he said. “I told the guys at halftime in the first half it was too easy for him. I just told them we needed to lock in and kind of shrink the floor, and then we did a better job of that in the second half.”
In Dallas, Naji Marshall scored 30 points and handed out nine assists to lead the Mavericks to a fourth straight victory, 123-115 over the Golden State Warriors. Rookie Cooper Flagg and Max Christie added 21 points apiece for the Mavericks, who withstood a 38-point performance from Warriors star Stephen Curry, including eight three-pointers. The Warriors have lost two straight since losing Jimmy Butler for the season with a torn knee ligament.
Jonathan Kuminga, pressed into service due to Butler’s injury, scored 10 points for the Warriors before departing in the second quarter after hyperextending his left knee. It’s more uncertainty for the Warriors and Kuminga, who had reportedly demanded a trade after being benched for 16 games by coach Steve Kerr.
The Chicago Bulls welcomed the return of Australian point guard Josh Giddey with a 120-115 victory over the Timberwolves in Minnesota. Giddey, sidelined since December 20 with a hamstring injury, came off the bench to score 21 points. Julius Randle led all scorers with 30 points for Minnesota, while T’Wolves star Anthony Edwards finished with 20, connecting on just nine of his 25 attempts from the field.
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