The Philadelphia 76ers were looking to begin their five-game road trip on the right note when they paid a visit to the Utah Jazz on Saturday to begin the trip. The Sixers were also looking to bounce back from a poor defensive effort in a loss on Thursday at home.
They got off to an excellent start as they scored 41 points in the first quarter and built up a 20-point lead by playing with pace and sharing the ball. They got away from that a bit as the Jazz worked their way back into the game and took the lead late, but Philadelphia was able to then escape with a 118-117 victory. James Harden led the Sixers with 31 points, 11 assists, and six rebounds on the night.
Joel Embiid had 30 points and seven rebounds while drilling the game-winner with 4.9 seconds left, Tyrese Maxey had 21 points, and Shake Milton had 17 points off the bench.
Here are the player grades after the win:
The Beard set the tone in this one. As always, the Sixers need to play with pace in order to have success on the offensive end of the floor. They rely on Harden to push the ball and look for the pass ahead in order to have success and he was great in that area to begin the night which led to 41 points in the first quarter and a 20-point lead in the opening frame. Overall, he was very good in this one. He knocked down some huge triples in the fourth to give the Sixers the lead back after Utah had rallied to tie the game and he had some terrific passes in order to set up teammates. He was absolutely phenomenal in the fourth quarter.
The start for Maxey was perfect. Struggling to shoot the ball since his return from injury, he knocked down two triples in the first quarter. He had a really nice night shooting the ball which led to success offensively and he also was moving well off the ball. The young man out of Kentucky was eventually going to figure it out. It was only a matter of time for him. With that being said, he had another really tough night on the defensive end. The Sixers were able to hide him a bit, but the Jazz began really hunting him on switches in the pick-and-roll.
Receiving the start in place of the injured Tobias Harris, Melton made an immediate impact. He drilled a triple on the offensive end before blocking a Jordan Clarkson jumper and leading the break to find Maxey for an open triple. He wasn’t able to have the same efficiency on the offensive end the rest of the way, but he was helpful on the…
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at Sixers Wire…