Sixers win fifth straight behind 48 points from Joel Embiid in 146-128 victory over Wizards

Nic Batum hit threes like they were layups.

The Washington Wizards never had a chance.

Tobias Harris muscled his way to the basket.

The Wizards never got close.

Kelly Oubre Jr. provided solid defense. De’Anthony Melton broke out of his shooting slump. And Joel Embiid was on his way to scoring a season-high 48 points and setting another team record.

» READ MORE: Sixers’ Nic Batum was dealing with a family situation: ‘Sometimes stuff is bigger than basketball’

It was all over shortly after it started.

On Monday in front of a sellout crowd of 19,765, these Sixers showed why they’re receiving early-season hype.

If their goal was to have the outcome all but decided by halftime, they accomplished that in a 146-128 victory at Wells Fargo Center.

It all started by outscoring Washington 22-6 in the final 6 minutes, 2 seconds of the first quarter. They added 42 points on 65.4% shooting in the second quarter to take 75-58 halftime advantage.

“You are right,” Tyrese Maxey said of the Sixers’ first-half group effort being the difference. “Joel, I only think he had [eight] points in the first quarter. So we [were] still winning and we went out there with that second group and guys hit shots. Nic Batum hit shots.

“Everybody was aggressive, too. But it was aggressive in the flow. That was good for us. I mean when you buy in and you got Joel to buy into what Nick Nurse is trying to do, everybody else has to follow suit. And it’s been really great.”

An 18-point victory over the Eastern Conference’s last-place team won’t make major headlines. The Sixers’ true test will come in Wednesday night’s much-anticipated home game against the Boston Celtics, who are tied for first in the East with the Sixers at 5-1 after falling to Minnesota, 114-109, in overtime.

But Sixers dominated the Wizards (1-5) like a contending team is supposed to do in winning their fifth straight.

» READ MORE: Why Nick Nurse wants to see more aggression from Tyrese Maxey despite a hot start

And once the Sixers had a commanding cushion, Embiid showed why he’s the reigning MVP. He scored 29 third-quarter points on 10-for-10 shooting and made all nine of his foul shots. His 29 points were the most in a quarter in Sixers history. With a comfortable lead, the six-time All-Star sat out the fourth quarter.

Embiid made 17-of-25 shots overall and was 14-for-14 from the foul line. He also finished with 11 rebounds, six assists, a block and just one turnover.

“I probably should’ve had zero, but one turnover [was the proudest accomplishment],” Embiid said. “I thought I wasn’t up to par defensively, but yeah. Just taking care of the ball. Taking what’s available, playing as a team. It’s funny, it looks like there’s a lot of points, but I think a lot of it was in the flow of the offense. No [isolation], no posting up, just in the flow of the offense.”

Maxey had his second consecutive double-double, finishing with 22 points and a career-high 11 assists.

Harris had 18 points and Melton added 14 points on 5-for-10 shooting — including making 4-of-5 three-pointers — to break out of his shooting slump. Melton shot 28.6% through the first five games, including 27.3% on three-pointers.

Meanwhile, Oubre provided stellar defense while only attempting five shots. He had a block and a steal to go with three points and five rebounds.

But this game was about the Sixers debuts for Batum and Marcus Morris, who were acquired along with Robert Covington and KJ Martin from the Clippers in Wednesday’s three-team trade that sent James Harden and P.J. Tucker to L.A.

Batum arrived in Philly with Morris, Covington and Martin at 1:30 a.m. Wednesday to take physicals, meet the Sixers and attend practice. However, Batum left to attend a family matter, missing games on Thursday and Saturday before returning Sunday. He participated in Monday morning’s shootaround and played 17 minutes, 27 seconds against the Wizards.

Batum made his first four shots and had 11 points on 4-for-5 shooting, including making 3-of-4 three-pointers. Morris added three points and a block.

» READ MORE: Joel Embiid counters James Harden’s claim that the Sixers held him back, saying ‘we gave him the ball every single possession’

“I had no idea what to do out there,” Batum said. “I had a quick 45 minutes [Sunday]. That was a day off, so I just came in and went through some plays with coaches. So that was 45 minutes. I had a short shootaround this morning. I watched the last two games. ... I just tried to go out there and play.

“When you play with guys like that, Joel or Tyrese, Tobias or Tobias, Kelly or [Patrick Beverley], guys who are very good at basketball first, but very good IQ, it’s just easy to play the game.”

Batum checked into the game with 4:52 left in the first quarter.

His first basket came on a wide open corner three-pointer on an assist from Beverley with 2:22 remaining in the quarter. Then he drained another wide open three-pointer from the top of the key on an assist from Embiid 1:13 later. Batum’s third basket, another three-pointer, gave the Sixers a 36-24 cushion 14 seconds into the second quarter. And he added an 18-foot fadeaway jumper at the 10:17 mark of the quarter.

“Any time you have quick trigger shooters, it just makes it easier,” Embiid said of Batum. “Especially, for me because every team wants to double and send two or three guys at me every single time. Any time you have guys like that that can get it up quick and actually make them, I think it’s great for us and that forces the other team to make a decision. Do you wanna keep doubling? Or are you gonna allow those shots and we’ll take whatever is available.”

Kyle Kuzma paced with Wizards with 28 points. Daniel Gafford had 12 points and five blocks. Eight of his points and all of his blocks came in the first quarter.

Oubre was inserted into the starting lineup after the trade. It was only supposed to be a temporary thing.

However, he scored 23 and 25 points in his first two starts. Before Wednesday’s game, Nurse said Oubre will remain a starter for now.

“When you are looking at this, trying to make these decisions, I always say to you, I can only go off what I see, right? And so, Kelly for example, [Furkan Korkmaz] for example. You know we gave Furk a shot and he’s played good in both games. So that’s our kind of current information, and Kelly started and played well.

So it’s … kind of probably silly to just make changes or use somebody else or change the rotation if the information is good, right? So on we go with evaluating it.”

The Sixers’ 146 points and 37 assists were season highs. Their 12 steals tied a season high.