Philadelphia 76ers end Kings’ winning streak despite absence of Joel Embiid, James Harden
The Philadelphia 76ers didn’t have Joel Embiid or James Harden, but they still had enough firepower to complete a big comeback after trailing by 21 Saturday night in Sacramento.
Tyrese Maxey scored 32 points to lead the 76ers to a 129-127 victory over the Kings before a sellout crowd of 17,861 at Golden 1 Center, ending Sacramento’s six-game winning streak.
The Kings had a chance to tie the game when Harrison Barnes stepped to the line to shoot three free throws with 2.9 seconds remaining, but Barnes, an 82.7% free-throw shooter, missed the first attempt. He made the second attempt and intentionally missed the third in hopes of a putback opportunity, but Domantas Sabonis couldn’t convert on a desperation tip while falling to the floor as time expired.
“You’ve got to give Philly a lot of credit,” Kings coach Mike Brown said. “They were shorthanded. They came in here, from their coaching staff to their players on down, you’ve got to give them all the credit. They just physically kicked our behind.”
Montrezl Harrell had 17 points and seven rebounds for the 76ers (30-16), who came out west and went unbeaten on a five-game road trip. Tobias Harris had 17 points, five rebounds and six assists.
De’Aaron Fox scored 14 of his 31 points in the fourth quarter in an effort to salvage a victory for the Kings (26-19), but they couldn’t match Philadelphia’s energy and physicality on the second night of a back-to-back. The 76ers outrebounded the Kings 45-29, outscored them 70-56 on points in the paint and had a 23-6 advantage in second-chance points.
“Maybe we lost the game because we were tired,” Brown said. “I don’t know, but if we want to be great, we can’t let a team outwork us or be more physical than us in our building, especially the way that they did tonight. That’s my concern and some people may chalk it up to a back-to-back. I don’t think I can because we had opportunities to put a body on a body and that doesn’t take a lot of effort.”
Barnes scored 27 points. Kevin Huerter had 20. Sabonis finished with 16 points, nine rebounds and 10 assists after a scorekeeping decision subtracted one rebound from his total. Sabonis just missed his second consecutive triple-double, but he still extended his franchise-record streak of 22 consecutive double-doubles.
Prior to the game, Kings owner Vivek Ranadive and general manager Monte McNair presented Keegan Murray with the NBA Western Conference Rookie of the Month award for December. McNair and 76ers president Daryl Morey, longtime friends who worked together with the Houston Rockets for 13 years, watched the second half together.
The 76ers were making the final stop on a five-game road trip after winning the first four games against the Utah Jazz, Los Angeles Lakers, Los Angeles Clippers and Portland Trail Blazers.
Harden was ruled out 90 minutes before tipoff due to injury management for a tendon strain in his right foot. Embiid was ruled out 30 minutes before gametime due to left foot injury recovery.
Maxey started at point guard in place of Harden. Harrell started at center in place of Embiid. The 76ers still had a formidable starting lineup with Maxey, De’Anthony Melton, Harris, Tucker and Harrell, but coach Doc Rivers had to go deep into his bench with Matisse Thybulle, Shake Milton, Georges Niang, Paul Reed and Danuel House Jr.
Somehow, Philadelphia still outscored Sacramento 49-20 in points off the bench. Niang and Milton combined for 32. Kings guard Malik Monk was held to nine points on 3-of-10 shooting. Monk is 1 of 14 from 3-point range over the past four games and 28 of 112 (.250) over the past 22 games.
Brown noted that Monk was in the practice facility getting extra shots following Friday’s win over the Houston Rockets and again before Saturday’s game against the 76ers.
“Obviously, he’s a big part of what we do, and he gets paid to make shots,” Brown said. “For his career, he’s mid to high 30s from the 3-point line, and he’s shot the ball well for us. He’s going through a stretch now where he’s not. He’s got to be able to figure out a way that he can help us in some other ways. On top of that, he’s got to spend extra time in the gym, and if he does those things, we’ll continue to ride with him.”
The Kings knocked down five of their first eight shots and staged an early 10-0 run to take a 15-4 lead. They led 35-27 at the end of the first quarter and outscored Philadelphia 11-2 to start the second, stretching their lead to 17.
There was a scary moment in the second period when Kings forward Chimezie Metu made a move in the paint, planted his left foot and crumbled to the floor. A hush fell over the crowd as he went down clutching his left knee.
Metu was helped to his feet and limped off the floor under his own power as he headed to the locker room with the team’s medical staff. The Kings later announced Metu would not return due to a left leg injury.
Brown didn’t have an update on Metu immediately after the game, saying when the game ended Metu had already left the arena “to get his leg checked out.”
Sacramento went up by 21 on a 3-pointer by Huerter. The Kings took a 74-61 lead into the locker room at the break after Danuel House Jr. hit a 3 at the buzzer.
The Kings shot 60.5% from the field and made 9 of 19 (.474) from 3-point range. They established a season high for points in the first half, surpassing their 73-point first halves against the Brooklyn Nets on Nov. 15 and Los Angeles Lakers on Jan. 7.
Still, Sacramento’s lead wasn’t safe.
The 76ers came back to tie the game on a three-point play by Harrell and took a 95-94 lead on a driving layup by Maxey. They outscored the Kings 38-22 in the third quarter to carry a 102-96 lead into the fourth.
The Kings trailed by 11 early in the fourth. They were still down by eight with less than five minutes remaining, but Fox, Sabonis and Huerter propelled a 9-2 run as Sacramento came back to cut the deficit to one.
Melton made two free throws to put the 76ers up by three with 4.1 seconds remaining. Barnes was fouled on a 3-point attempt with 2.9 seconds to go, but he missed the first free throw to set up the frantic final sequence.
Fox pointed to the rebounding disparity and his team’s inability to limit second-chance scoring opportunities.
“That was a big difference,” Fox said. “They also shot over 50% from the field and over 40% from 3, so we have to be better defensively … but they killed us on the offensive glass, second-chance points, so I feel like if we do clean that up, with the misses that we did force, we get out and run and we turn those into points on the other end.”
Rivers was pleased with the effort from his team.
“That was a resilient win by our guys,” River said. “Tyrese was just phenomenal, but so is everyone. (House) hasn’t played in I don’t know how long. He comes in and makes two 3s for us. Everybody who played did something to help us win the game tonight. We’re down 21 points and all we talked about was winning the game. We didn’t panic. Every timeout, I was like ‘We’re going to win the game. Just hang in there.’”
This story was originally published January 22, 2023 at 12:13 AM.
