Joel Embiid returns from knee injury, scores 41 points as Sixers coast to MLK Day victory

Ja’Sean Tate misfired on a fourth-quarter jumper, the ball landing in an area on the right side of the court where Joel Embiid could cover the necessary ground to corral the rebound.

Nick Nurse kept the NBA’s reigning most valuable player in the game until he surpassed 40 points. But Embiid’s streak was alive, and the 76ers were rolling.

Embiid totaled 41 points and 10 rebounds — extending his streak of games with 30 points and 10 rebounds to 16 — in the Sixers’ not-as-close-as-the-final-score 124-115 victory over the Houston Rockets on Monday afternoon at the Wells Fargo Center in the superstar big man’s return from a three-game absence with knee inflammation.

» READ MORE: How Nick Nurse’s and Daryl Morey’s Houston Rockets ties led to their reunion with the Sixers

The low-stress win, for Embiid and his team, sets up a marquee showdown Tuesday night against the defending NBA champion Denver Nuggets and two-time MVP Nikola Jokić. When asked during his pregame news conference about Embiid’s availability for that game on the second night of a back-to-back, Nurse said he would address that topic following Monday’s game.

Embiid scored 26 points in the first half, helping the Sixers lead by as many as 28 points before the break. He went 7-of-12 from the floor and 11-of-11 from the free-throw line during that stretch, regularly baiting the Rockets into contact and often scoring through it. He reached 30 points on two free throws early in the third quarter.

There was a period in the second half when it looked like Embiid’s 30-10 streak could be in danger. He picked up his fifth foul at the 4-minute, 42-second mark of the third quarter, keeping him off the floor for the rest of the frame before reentering early in the fourth.

The Sixers complemented Embiid’s dominance by shooting 15-for-31 from three-point range, amassing 34 bench points, and sinking 29 of 34 free throws compared to the Rockets’ 19 of 32. That was needed on a day when Tyrese Maxey missed eight of his first 11 shots before catching fire early in the fourth to finish with 27 points and seven assists, after dropping 42 on the Rockets in Houston in late December.

Houston chipped away at its large deficit in the third quarter, getting within 81-68 on an Alperen Şengün free throw at the 4:42 mark. But the Sixers answered with six consecutive points, including an inside finish by Paul Reed — whose second-half rotation came early after Embiid picked up his fifth foul — to prompt a Rockets timeout.

The Sixers swiftly built a 14-point lead when Marcus Morris Sr. hit a three late in the first quarter. That advantage stretched to 62-34 on an Embiid technical free throw with three minutes remaining in before the break.