The Philadelphia 76ers end their losing streak at four games as they topple the Oklahoma City Thunder in their return home.
In what had seasons past been a heated rivalry served as a calm-tempered game. Neither the Philadelphia 76ers nor the Oklahoma City Thunder received a technical in what was a competitive game, but didn’t include the previous heated back and forth.
The two teams opened up quickly and evenly. Both teams combined to score 31 points in the first quarter with the largest lead being a six point Oklahoma City lead.
The two teams began the second quarter evenly much like the first, until a James Ennis III layup with 5:09 remaining in the second kick-started a 20-7 run to give them a 62-52 lead going into the half.
Oklahoma City started a comeback in the third quarter by scoring 34 points on 50 percent shooting and entered the fourth trailing by only four-points, 90-86.
Oklahoma City never was able to even the game up in the final period. A Dennis Schroder 20-foot jumper pushed the score to 106-108, but a Tobias Harris dunk, Ben Simmons layup, and Harris three-pointer game Philadelphia a 115-106 lead that proved too much for Oklahoma City to overcome.
Philadelphia has shot 50 percent or better from three-point range in back-to-back home games and will look to push their home record to 18-2 as they take on the Boston Celtics, Thursday.