Tobias Harris on Wednesday drove in the final dagger as the Philadelphia 76ers thwarted a late Los Angeles Lakers rally to hand the reigning NBA champions their first road defeat of the season — 107-106.
In a bruising heavyweight clash, the Eastern Conference-leading Sixers made a statement against the league-leading Lakers.
“Some people think we haven’t played anybody,” Harris said. “For us, we wanted to go against the champs. We wanted to see where we’re at.”
Photo: AFP
Joel Embiid scored 28 points, Ben Simmons notched a triple-double of 17 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists, and Harris, fed by Seth Curry, sealed the victory with a pull-up jump shot with three seconds remaining.
The Lakers, who had won a franchise-best 10 road games to start the season, nearly kept the streak alive, despite trailing by 14 points in the fourth quarter.
The Lakers, down by 12 with 3 minutes, 7 seconds remaining, produced a 13-0 scoring run launched by Alex Caruso’s finger-roll layup.
After three-pointers from Caruso, Dennis Schroder and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Anthony Davis gave the Lakers a 106-105 lead on a layup set up by LeBron James.
After a time-out, Philadelphia inbounded the ball with 11.2 seconds remaining. They sent the ball to Harris, who drove left and fired.
Davis’ desperation heave from half-court as time expired was never close.
James, coming off a 46-point performance at Cleveland on Monday, led the Lakers with 34 points, Davis added 23 and Schroder had 16.
Cameroonian center Embiid had an injury scare in the third quarter, when he came down hard on the small of his back after he was pushed by James as he rose for a dunk.
James was assessed a flagrant foul and Embiid, who missed the 76ers’ previous game with back tightness, gingerly tested himself after he rose, but stayed in the game.
“That’s a very dangerous play,” Embiid said. “I guarantee if that was me, I would have probably been ejected from the game.”
Elsewhere, the Brooklyn Nets, with a big night from their big three, escaped with a 132-128 overtime victory over the Atlanta Hawks.
Kevin Durant scored 32 points, James Harden added a double-double of 31 points and 15 assists with eight rebounds, and Kyrie Irving added 26 points for Brooklyn, who won their third straight.
Trae Young led the Hawks with 28 points and 14 assists. Cam Reddish scored 24 points off the bench for Atlanta, including a driving layup that tied the score at 118-118, with less than 30 seconds left in regulation.
Brooklyn jumped to a 127-121 lead midway through overtime, buoyed by Jeff Green’s three-pointer and a dunk from Durant.
A Durant three-pointer made it 129-123 with 1 minute, 25 seconds remaining, and the Nets held on to win a close game, which featured 21 lead changes, with neither team leading by more than seven.
In other games on Wednesday, it was:
· Pelicans 124, Wizards 106
· Spurs 110, Celtics 106
· Nuggets 109, Heat 82
· Bucks 115, Raptors 108
· Warriors 123, Timberwolves 111
· Thunder 102, Suns 97
· Jazz 116, Mavericks 104
· Pacers 116, Hornets 106
· Cavaliers 122, Pistons 107
· Kings 121, Magic 107
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