Eastern Conference Recap: Joel Embiid Has Big Day Against New York Knicks

The Philadelphia 76ers have been one of the hottest teams in the NBA.

They won for the eighth straight time after defeating the New York Knicks 119-112 on Christmas Day.

Sixers center Joel Embiid, the NBA’s leading scorer, led the way with 35 points. But what made it eye-catching was it happened just hours after it was reported James Harden was interested in returning to the Houston Rockets. Harden had 29 points and 13 assists, just two days after recording a career-high 21 assists.

Julius Randle led the Knicks with 35 points while three other players had double-doubles. R.J. Barrett had 17 points and 10 rebounds while Mitchell Robinson had 10 points and 16 rebounds and Jalen Brunson 23 points and 11 assists.

OTHER NOTES

-The top-seeded Boston Celtics blew past the Milwaukee Bucks 139-118 behind leading MVP candidate Jayson Tatum. He scored 41 points, two of them coming in a posterizing dunk on Giannis Antetokounmpo. It was Tatum's sixth 40-point game this season. He also got some help from Jaylen Brown, who scored 29 points while hitting five 3-pointers.

Antetokounmpo had 27 points for the Bucks, who were without Khris Middleton for a fifth straight game with a knee injury. Jrue Holiday had 23 points.

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Cory Nelson is a contributor to Inside The Heat. He attended Northern Virginia Community College. He can be reached at corymckenzienelson@hotmail.com or follow him on Twitter @CKenzyNelson. You can also check out his personal blog https://allball30.wordpress.com