Joel Embiid, Tobias Harris lead 76ers to 119-111 win over Sacramento Kings

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — The 76ers knew their West Coast road trip would be tough.

They came out here to face four quality teams in the Sacramento Kings, Portland Trail Blazers, Phoenix Suns, and Utah Jazz.

While it wasn’t always pretty, the Sixers started off the road trip with a 119-111 over the Kings Tuesday night at the Golden 1 Center.

Joel Embiid finished with 25 points, 17 rebounds, and six assists as the Sixers improved to 18-7, posting their sixth win in seven games. Ten of Embiid’s points came in the fourth quarter.

Meanwhile, Tobias Harris scored 12 of his 22 points in the Sixers’ 32-point final quarter. The power forward also finished with 10 rebounds

Seth Curry added 22 points while making 4 of 6 three-pointers. while Ben Simmons added 14 points, nine assists and seven rebounds. Reserves Furkan Korkmaz (13 points) and Shake Milton (11) were the other double-digit scorers.

Milton appeared to injure his ankle late in the game, but Doc Rivers expects him to be fine.

This was a big win for the Sixers, and Embiid didn’t hide his emotions while walking off the floor.

The All-Star center yelled “Yeah! We got another one!” en route to the locker room.

It had a lot to do with the team’s improved defense in the second half. After going 11-for-20 on three-pointers in the first half, the Kings were limited to just 3-of-22 after intermission.

“We didn’t make any [adjustments],” Doc Rivers said. “We just started playing better defense, honestly.”

That included keeping De’Aaron Fox out of the paint.

“That’s what created a lot of threes,” Rivers said.

Fox finished with game highs of 34 points (on 30 shots) and 10 assists for Sacramento (12-12). Twenty-three of his points came in the first half.

Simmons defended Fox before Matisse Thybulle took over the defensive assignment in the fourth quarter. That’s when the second-year guard recorded his lone block. Fox made just 3 of 13 shots while scoring seven points, as the Sixers outscored the Kings, 32-20, in the final quarter.

“He was great,” Rivers said of Thybulle. “We needed it, too. He did a good job on him. Matisse is better suited for him, and that allowed us to [put] Ben on someone else, on [Harrison] Barnes and [Buddy] Hield. That was a really good adjustment for us.”

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The Sixers also utilized their size advantage to outrebound the Kings, 59-39. Philly outscored Sacramento, 15-2, in second-chance points.

“This Philly team is big,” Kings coach Luke Walton said. “They got Dwight [Howard] coming off the bench. But also, when you look at their guards and wings, between Harris and Ben, this is, to me — probably along with the Lakers — probably the two biggest teams in the NBA.

“So they are a great offensive rebounding team. Like I said, that’s something we have been struggling with.”

As a result, rebounding was key Tuesday night.

In Saturday’s contest against the Denver Nuggets, Sacramento gave up 50 points, 12 assists, and eight rebounds to All-Star center Nikola Jokic. But the Kings did a solid job of not allowing the MVP candidate to get his teammates going in what ended up a Kings victory.

“I think Embiid, he’s having an MVP season as well,” Walton said. “It feels like every night we are going out and playing against an MVP-type of candidate.”

The coach expected to give up a lot of points to Embiid, but he felt it was important for them to keep battling. The Sixers standout, however, had only nine points on 2-for-6 shooting in the first half.

Curry and Korkmaz carried the Sixers before intermission.

The Sixers did a solid job of getting Curry involved early in the action. It paid off, as the shooting guard scored eight of the Sixers’ first 19 points on 3-for-4 shooting. He ended up with 16 first-half points. Meanwhile, Korkmaz had 12 on 5-for-5 shooting, including two three-pointers.

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However, the Sixers had a tough time with the Kings’ perimeter players.

They couldn’t consistently keep a body in front of Fox, who was coming off Sunday’s 36-point performance against the Los Angeles Clippers.

His play opened up three-point opportunities for the Kings in the first half. Shooting guard Hield, Fox, and rookie reserve guard Tyrese Haliburton accounted for all of those three-pointers. Hield made 5 of 9 three-pointers in the first half. Fox went 3-for-5, and Haliburton was 3-for-3.

“They are a good team,” Rivers said. “They play with a great pace. Fox is the head of the snake, obviously. But Buddy Hield applies a lot of pressure offensively, too. Harrison Barnes. [Tyrese] Haliburton, a rookie. I mean they’re a solid basketball team. They can really put points on the board.”

Fox, Hield (17), and Haliburton (15) combined to score 55 of the Kings’ 71 first-half points.

Embiid was subbed out of the game after making a pair of foul shots with 3:18 left in the third quarter to pull the Sixers within two points (86-84). He got his bloodied right knee bandaged at his seat near the basket closest to the Sixers’ bench before heading to the locker room. Embiid returned with less than a second left in the quarter with what appeared to be a new pair of tights.

Then, midway through the fourth quarter, he changed his shorts on the baseline near the Sixers bench during a break in the action.

“He’s a big, and he’s a target,” Rivers said of the Kings being physical with Embiid. “So I tell him every day that they are going to throw everything at you. You just have to stand in there every night and take and enjoy it.”

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