PHILADELPHIA — The Sixers gathered for one final timeout, because nothing would come easy on this night.
Joel Embiid had overcome a slow start to notch a 36-point night. His team had flipped a 17-point hole into a 10-point advantage with less than three minutes to play. But a last-ditch outburst by young Sacramento Kings star Tyrese Haliburton — including an off-balance corner 3-pointer that cut the Sixers’ lead to two with 11.1 seconds to play and a five-second violation on the home team’s ensuing possession — put a Saturday night crowd that braved snowy conditions to be in attendance on high alert.
But Harrison Barnes’ last-second 3-pointer clanked off the side of the rim, and the Sixers survived, 103-101, at the Wells Fargo Center. The Sixers (30-19) have now won 14 of their past 17 games. Yet Saturday night was more of a struggle than many would have perceived entering the contest.
The Kings (18-33) had lost five games in a row and were playing without standout guard De’Aaron Fox. But the Sixers avoided disaster in a clunker wedged between Thursday’s win against the always-intriguing Lakers and Monday’s upcoming game against the scorching Grizzlies.
However, Saturday’s outing served as a cautionary tale on how the Sixers can flounder when Embiid is not dominant. He started the game 1 of 6 before a 17-point third-quarter explosion to anchor the Sixers’ comeback. It was also a warning about what can unfold when the Sixers’ normally sound ballhandling goes sideways, as it did at times, leading to the Kings scoring 22 points off 18 Philly turnovers.
The Sixers made their charge in the third quarter, erasing the Kings’ 70-55 lead built when Haliburton swiped a steal and threw down a one-handed dunk. Back-to-back 3-pointers by Green and Georges Niang sliced that deficit to 79-76, before Embiid finished inside and then spun and converted through contact for an and-1 and then made the free throw that tied the score at 81 in the period’s final minute.
Sacramento briefly rebuilt a six-point lead with Embiid and Tobias Harris on the bench early in the fourth. But the Sixers promptly answered, with an Andre Drummond finish giving them their first lead since the opening minutes at 88-87, before a Tyrese Maxey transition bucket and 3-pointer stretched that advantage to 93-87 with about six minutes to play.
Embiid finished with 36 points on 10-of-18 shooting from the floor and 14-of-18 shooting from the free-throw line and also totaled 12 rebounds and six assists. Haliburton scored 38 points on 11-of-19 shooting and added seven assists for the Kings.
Slow start, frantic finish
The Sixers looked a step slow from the opening tip, trailing by as many as 17 points late in the second quarter when Marvin Bagley III followed a finish underneath with a baseline jumper to make the score 50-33.
The struggle stemmed from two uncharacteristic roots. The Sixers committed 13 first-half turnovers that the Kings converted into 18 points. Those miscues also helped Sacramento take 13 more shots in the first half.
Embiid went just 1 of 5 from the floor before the break, though he did manufacture 10 points on 12 free-throw attempts. When asked before the game about defending Embiid, Kings interim coach Alvin Gentry said his team would need to throw a bunch of different looks at the MVP contender. Multiple defenders constantly swarmed Embiid, helping lead to three assists before the break but also contributing to three turnovers.
The barrage of easy looks in transition helped the Kings shoot 51.1% from the floor and 8 of 18 from 3-point land in the game in the first half.
The Sixers trimmed that deficit to 11 before the break, and then to 62-55 early in the third on an and-1 finish and free throw by Embiid.
Harris stays efficient
A positive of a sporadic night was that Harris continued his steady offensive streak. He finished with 16 points on 7-of-12 shooting from the floor to go along with eight rebounds.
Harris entered Saturday averaging 23 points on 58.4% shooting and 57.1% from 3-point range in his past five games, while also contributing an average of 7.6 rebounds, 3.8 assists and 1.8 steals in those outings.
He accumulated nine quick points on 4-of-5 shooting. He did not get as many touches in the second half, but converted a finish off a feed from Embiid to reduce the Kings’ lead to 77-69 late in the third before muscling in a crucial crunch-time and-1 that extended the Sixers’ to 99-90 with less than four minutes to play.
Curry’s return
Seth Curry struggled in his return to action after missing the past four games with ankle soreness. He finished with eight points on 3-of-10 shooting, with five assists and two turnovers.
He appeared to catch some early rhythm when he stepped into a transition 3-pointer at about the 7-minute mark of the first quarter and then followed with a game-tying baseline jumper. But he missed his next three shots in the first half, and misfired on three open 3-pointers in the second half. He did, however, bury a key shot from behind the arc that cut the Kings’ lead to 87-84 with about 10 minutes to play.
Curry’s return, combined with Mattise Thybulle and Danny Green coming back from injury earlier this week, gave coach Doc Rivers his fullest complement of players in some time. He played 11 Sixers total, including an all-bench lineup of Green, Furkan Korkmaz, Charlie Brown, Georges Niang and Andre Drummond to start the second quarter, though that group lasted less than two minutes before Rivers quickly subbed in Curry and Maxey.
Likely looking for an offensive punch in with his team trailing by 10 late in the third quarter, Rivers inserted outside shooter Isaiah Joe. Rivers kept Curry and Maxey on the floor with Green, Niang and Drummond to start the fourth.
The Sixers compiled 22 bench points, led by 11 from Green.
