PHILADELPHIA — Luka Doncic attempted to float a driving layup over Joel Embiid, but the Sixers’ big man rejected the ball at the rim.
That denial of the Dallas Mavericks superstar all but sealed the Sixers 116-108 victory Wednesday night at the Wells Fargo Center, on a night Embiid and fellow standout James Harden returned from injury.
The victory moved the Sixers (50-26) to two games back of the Boston Celtics for second place in the Eastern Conference standings with six regular-season games remaining, and pushed them 2 1/2 games ahead of the fourth-place Cleveland Cavaliers.
The Sixers overcame a 12 point second-quarter deficit to seize control in the final period.
De’Anthony Melton hit a corner three-pointer to put the Sixers up, 108-103 with less than six minutes remaining, before a Tyrese Maxey bucket extended that lead to seven. Then after a deep three-pointer by Doncic cut the Sixers’ advantage to 111-108, Tobias Harris answered with a hook shot in the lane before Harden drew a foul and hit both free throws.
Coach Doc Rivers often points to the first game following a road trip — the Sixers had just played four consecutive contests (and 12 of their previous 15) away from the Wells Fargo Center — as particularly challenging. And the Sixers indeed looked sluggish early on, trailing by as many as 12 points in the second quarter by surrendering 11 points off seven turnovers, allowing seven fastbreak points and shooting 42.5% from the floor before the half.
The Sixers chipped away to briefly take a 74-71 lead on a pair of Embiid free throws followed by a P.J. Tucker finish inside, before the Mavericks answered with a 15-5 surge capped by a Doncic three-pointer to go back up, 86-79. The Sixers then staged a 10-5 run to enter the final period trailing by two.
Embiid finished with 25 points, nine rebounds and three assists, while Harden scored 15 points on 4-of-14 shooting but added 12 assists and four rebounds. Maxey added 22 points, four rebounds and four assists to continue his terrific scoring month.
The Sixers next host the Toronto Raptors on Friday, before two marquee matchups at the Milwaukee Bucks on Sunday and Boston Celtics next Tuesday.
Embiid, Harden return
Harden swiftly connected with Embiid for a one-handed dunk, an emphatic sign that the dangerous duo had returned.
It was a mixed bag after that — until the final minutes.
After both players returned from their second half rest, Harden found Embiid for a three-pointer that tied the score at 103 and then Embiid followed with a go-ahead jumper over JaVale McGhee at the 6:15 mark. Harden later sank two free throws that gave the Sixers a 115-108 lead with 1:05 to play, before Embiid’s key block.
Embiid scored 10 first-quarter points, including a spinning layup that sent Dallas’ Dwight Powell to the floor and a putback after Jalen McDaniels could not finish an alley-oop. Harden, meanwhile, missed his first five shots, before collecting his own miss and laying the ball in and hitting a catch-and-shoot three-pointer.
Embiid then gave the Sixers a 72-71 lead on a pair of free throws with about seven minutes to play in the third quarter, before Harden found Tucker for a finish inside on the Sixers’ next possession to increase that advantage to three. An Embiid jumper also tied the score at 76.
Rotations, rotations
Rivers reiterated before the game that he was looking forward to the ripple-effect of the Sixers’ stars returning to health, which is complementary players clicking back into their roles and substitution patterns.
Melton was back to being the sixth man, but played 33 minutes. He was the Sixers’ first sub after Maxey picked up two fouls. He also played with the starters for a stretch at the end of the first half, guarding Doncic. He then played down the stretch in place of Tucker, guarding Kyrie Irving.
Georges Niang also finished with an effective 14 points on 4-of-7 from three-point range — including a deep shot that tied the score at 89 in the third quarter’s final seconds — and added two rebounds and two assists in 19 minutes.
Maxey (not Harden) spearheaded the Sixers’ group at the start of the second quarter alongside Melton, Niang, McDaniels, and Paul Reed.
Danuel House Jr. did not play in the first half, and only played 4.1 seconds total, when he briefly entered to play defense on Dallas’ final possession of the third quarter. Dewayne Dedmon and Shake Milton did not play at all. .
Net-gate
The start of the second half was briefly delayed to fix the net on the basket closest to the Mavericks’ bench. It was a flashback, of sorts, to last January, when a crooked rim caused a lengthy delay when the same teams matched up in Dallas.
