PORTLAND, Ore. — Imagine the trick played on the Portland Trail Blazers Thursday night.
The team welcomed the Philadelphia 76ers into the Moda Center thinking it had the perimeter scorer in Dame Lillard needed to obliterate their opponent’s perimeter defense. Then they found out he couldn’t score.
In what was not a classic game, but a classic defensive performance, the Sixers defeated the Blazers, 105-95.
With the win, the Sixers (29-16) moved into a second-place tie with the Milwaukee Bucks in the Eastern Conference standings. Philly also won the first four games of its five-game West Coast trip. The Sixers will look for the sweep when they face the Sacramento Kings on Saturday night at the Golden 1 Center.
Meanwhile, the Blazers (21-24) have lost seven of their last nine games. Lillard finished with 25 points and 11 assists, but made just 6 of 21 shots. The six-time All-Star made just 1 of 10 shots while scoring four points in the first half.
Lillard had averaged 39 points in his previous six games.
The Blazers looked discouraged playing a team that was committed to defending every possession. The Sixers’ physicality and relentlessness combined led to several missed shots and had the Blazers shooting 37.6% from the field, including 9 of 37 on three-pointers.
The Sixers, once again, had a balanced attack.
Joel Embiid finished with 32 points, nine rebounds, and three blocks. James Harden added 16 points, 14 assists, and 10 rebounds for his fourth triple-double of the season. Tobias Harris added 11 points and seven rebounds. Meanwhile, Tyrese Maxey (15 points) and Shake Milton (10) scored in double figures off the bench. Matisse Thybulle also had two blocks and steal in a reserve role.
—Passing Muggsy
Harden now has 6,734 career assists, passing Muggsy Bogues for 23rd on the NBA’s all-time assists list.
The Sixers point guard entered the game needing seven assists to pass Bogues, who has 6,726 assists.
He got his seventh assist when he found Embiid on a one-foot layup to put the Sixers up 45-24 with 5 minutes, 54 seconds left before intermission.
It became obvious early on that Harden would surpass Bogues in the first half.
Harden’s first assist came on a three-pointer to De’Anthony Melton to put the Sixers up 3-0. Then Harden’s next two assists were to Embiid. Harden followed that up by finding Harris on his way to score a layup. His sixth assist came on a Georges Niang three-pointer.
He had six assists, two points, and just one shot attempt — a miss — while playing 8:43 in the first quarter.
Embiid also reached a milestone with his three blocks giving him 600 for his career.
—Defending Portland’s Big Three
This was supposed to be another stiff challenge for the Sixers’ struggling perimeter defense.
The Blazers had three players, in Lillard (29.3), Anfernee Simons (21.7), and former Sixer Jerami Grant (21.6), averaging at least 21 points.
That raised the question of whether the Sixers would focus on shutting Lillard down and letting Simons and Grant get their points or do the opposite.
“You can focus on him, but you know there’s a good chance he’s still gonna get his,” coach Doc Rivers said before the game. “He’s a great player. You know if they were easy to stop, they wouldn’t be great. It’s that simple.
“The guys that you can stop are not great. I think it’ll be a simpler way to say it.”
The goal was to make things hard for Lillard. If he got his points, the Sixers wanted him to shoot under 50%. They wanted to be physical with him.
“But in the meantime, you have to make sure he’s not scoring and getting his and then getting everybody else theirs as well,” Rivers said. “So you still have to focus on him, but you also have to focus on everyone.”
The Sixers had Melton starting on Lillard, P.J. Tucker on Grant, and Harris, at 6-foot-8, on the 6-3 Simons. Matisse Thybulle also guarded Lillard. Thybulle came in and took turns on Lillard and Simons. Harris also guarded Grant when Tucker was out of the game.
Grant still had a solid performance, finishing with 24 points, on 8-for-12 shooting. Simons added 16 points on 6-for-15 shooting.
—Grant’s evolution
Grant came a long way since being drafted by the Sixers with the 39th overall pick in the 2014 draft. At the time, he was a three-and-D power forward that struggled to make shots. These days, Grant, in his first season in Portland, is one of the league’s top two-way talents.
“That’s a compliment to the work he’s put into his game,” Portland coach Chauncey Billups said. “But now, there’s a lot of nights where he’s our number one scorer. Now, he’s the one that we are playing through. He takes the toughest matchups.”
He guarded Harden at times, and his three-pointer with 3:50 left in the game pulled the Blazers within nine points at 95-86.
“Jeremy is a guy that everybody wants on their team,” Billups said. “He’s that type of guy, that type of personality, too. Not just a skill set, but the dude. Every good team needs guys like him... And we’re obviously very grateful to have him.”
