The Philadelphia 76ers hosted the Portland Trail Blazers in a matchup featuring both teams missing their lead guard, with Portland also missing running mate CJ McCollum.
Without Ben Simmons on the court tonight for Doc Rivers and the Philadelphia 76ers, Furkan Korkmaz was inserted into the starting lineup. It also goes to mentioning that Seth Curry started, but left with an illness and did not return to the game.
The offense flowed early as the teams were even throughout the first quarter. Korkmaz showcased his play with ten points in the first helping Philadelphia to remain locked at 28-28 heading into the second quarter.
Speaking of, the second quarter played even as well. Portland’s offense functioned without its lead guards in a manner that highlighted much of the less glamorous value Simmons typically provides.
None of those things really mattered. The real story was Joel Embiid. He scored 25 points in the quarter in a myriad of ways as he took advantage of the less than phenomenal defender, Enes Kanter. Embiid continued his MVP campaign joining Bradley Beal of the Washington Wizards as the only players with 25-point quarter this season.The teams went to the locker rooms for halftime all tied at 57-57.
The third quarter was all Portland.
Portland came out on a 13-0 run, spearheaded by an active Kanter as he scored six points across the three-minute run. Embiid would stop the run with back-to-back 19-foot jump shots, but the bleeding was far from over.
With several less than typical names getting time, Portland managed to stretch their lead winning the quarter 40-19 and thus taking a 97-76 lead into the fourth.
The Sixers started the fourth with a mini-run that brought the lead to only 15. Although, it would quickly prove futile. The offense stalled as Philadelphia’s three-point shooting let themselves down throughout the night. The team managed only six points in more than six minutes following an Embiid layup.
The game came to an end with Portland winning 121-105.
It shouldn’t go without mentioning that Portland, without their three best players (as Jusuf Nurkic was also out), received stellar performances from Carmelo Anthony in a throwback 22-4-5 performance and from Kanter who grabbed 18 rebounds, including seven offensive boards.
Moving forward, Portland will head to the Garden to face the New York Knicks on Saturday. Philadelphia will aim to get back on track in a matchup pitting one versus two in the Eastern Conference against one another as the Brooklyn Nets roll into the Wells Fargo Center on Saturday.