The Sixers' trip out West remains full of wins.
The team recorded a fourth straight victory Thursday night at Moda Center, earning a 105-95 decision over the Trail Blazers. A win Saturday night over the Kings would complete a 5-0 trip.
At 29-16, the Sixers are tied with the Bucks for the Eastern Conference's second-best record. They've won 17 of their last 21 games.
Joel Embiid posted 32 points, nine rebounds and three blocks. James Harden had a triple-double with 16 points, 14 assists and 10 rebounds.
Portland star Damian Lillard put up 25 points on 6-for-21 shooting and 11 assists. Jerami Grant added 24 points for the Blazers, who shot just 37.6 percent from the field and 24.3 percent from three-point range. The Blazers were without Justise Winslow (left ankle sprain) and Gary Payton II (left calf contusion).
Here are observations on the Sixers' victory in Portland:
The Sixers played an unequivocally stellar first quarter on defense.
De’Anthony Melton started his fourth consecutive game and drew the Lillard assignment. He made an immediate contribution on offense, too, hitting a three-pointer seconds after he nabbed a steal. Embiid also got a quick transition bucket with a coast-to-coast layup, and the Sixers went up 11-2 on an Embiid mid-range jumper.
The Harden-Embiid pick-and-roll looked leisurely in the early going with Jusuf Nurkic in drop coverage every time. The introduction of Drew Eubanks did not turn the tide. Yet again, Embiid reached double-digit points in the first quarter. Heading into Thursday night, his 9.8 points per game in the first were his highest for any quarter and ranked second in the NBA behind Luka Doncic.
Portland began 1 for 10 from the floor and half of those attempts came from Lillard. The Sixers were fortunate that the Blazers missed some decent looks, but they did a strong job at exerting ball pressure (without fouling), trying to fight over screens, and avoiding any transition damage. One moment that stood out: Georges Niang played Grant tightly, hung with the former Process Sixers’ drive, and enabled Embiid to pick off Grant’s ill-advised interior pass. No Sixer appeared to be a true defensive weak spot.
The team had an excellent first few minutes of the second quarter, too. Matisse Thybulle blocked rookie Shaedon Sharpe’s end-of-shot-clock jumper. Following one of Lillard’s six turnovers on the night, Tyrese Maxey made a beautiful running hook over Nurkic, stretching the Sixers’ lead to 32-14.
Maxey (15 points on 7-for-12 shooting) led the way, but the Sixers’ all-bench lineup was fantastic across the board in its opening run.
Thybulle played a major role in Lillard’s continued struggles. The two-time All-Defensive selection sported a big smile after he anticipated Josh Hart’s pass to Lillard, swiped it, and jetted the other direction for a dunk. Shake Milton got a generous bounce on his foul-line jumper to give the Sixers a 21-point advantage early in the second quarter.
Montrezl Harrell threw down a put-back dunk and a high-flying slam courtesy of a Niang lob. He was also an active and effective defender. Steals 35 feet from the hoop are more in Andre Drummond’s wheelhouse than Harrell’s, but the 2020 Sixth Man of the Year snagged one in the second period. The Sixers have often moved to zone lately when Harrell has subbed in for Embiid, but that was not necessary Thursday.
While he didn’t quite employ hockey-style substitutions, Sixers head coach Doc Rivers essentially went with complete first and second units in the first half. However, Maxey replaced P.J. Tucker with just under two minutes remaining before halftime and nailed a three-pointer to put the Sixers up 55-30. That shot equaled Portland’s number of first-half makes from three-point range; the Blazers were 1 for 14 beyond the arc.
Harden and Embiid were both very methodical on offense; it felt inevitable for the large majority of the game that they’d find a good look on every possession. Harden created and exploited mismatches, in part through having Melton set ball screens.
The Harden-Embiid pairing didn’t just operate as a grind-it-out, deliberate duo. Embiid beat everyone up the court after Nurkic missed a three in the third quarter and Harden chucked the ball ahead to set his big man up for a dunk.
Embiid was called for his third foul with 23.7 seconds to go in the second quarter, but that didn’t trouble the Sixers. Harden blew by Eubanks and made a floater on the Sixers’ final play of the second. He notched nine first-half assists, passing Muggsy Bogues for 23rd on the NBA’s all-time list in the process.
The Sixers’ stars could not casually cruise to victory. Harden committed a couple of turnovers early in the third quarter and the Sixers didn’t maintain their level of defensive disruption. The team’s bench was also worse late in the third. Thybulle missed a layup and a three-pointer the Blazers didn’t appear to mind him taking. When Lillard drove on Thybulle and dished to Nassir Little for a layup, the Blazers had a 14-0 run and the Sixers’ lead was suddenly a mere 12 points.
This version of the Sixers’ bench is not short of players with momentum-halting scoring ability, though. Milton drained a mid-range jumper and made a lefty layup on the last play of the third. Niang canned two threes (assisted by Milton) early in the fourth.
Still, the Sixers allowed the game to become a bit chaotic. Maxey, who played the final five-plus minutes over Tucker, air-balled a corner three long and Grant sunk a triple that cut the Sixers' lead to 95-86. On an after-timeout play, Portland blitzed Harden. Anfernee Simons stole the 10-time All-Star's hook pass, was fouled by Embiid, and converted two free throws.
The Sixers regained stability with two sharp Harden hit-ahead passes right after he grabbed defensive rebounds; he assisted a Maxey layup and got Melton two foul shots. The Blazers kept pushing, but a tough Embiid fadeaway jumper and a Harden floater eliminated the possibility of real drama. The second half could have been smoother, but it was a professional, wire-to-wire win for a team that's been racking up all kinds of victories.
