Joel Embiid Leads Philadelphia 76ers Past Portland Trail Blazers

Embiid had 32 points, helping his case for the MVP

Joel Embiid scored 32 points to lead the Philadelphia 76ers to a 105-95 win against the Portland Trail Blazers. James Harden had 16 points, 10 rebounds, and 14 assists, his fourth triple-double this season.

“I think from the beginning it was easy. When you’ve got two guys with high basketball IQs, you can figure it out everything easy,” Embiid said about his chemistry with Harden. “So it’s all about just playing off of each other. We’ve been doing a wonderful job of doing that.”

Damian Lillard led the Trail Blazers with 25 points and 11 assists while Jerami Grant had 24 points.

NEXT 76ERS GAME AGAINST THE HEAT: Feb. 27 in Philadelphia

-Three Boston Celtics starters finished with double-doubles while they beat the Golden State Warriors in overtime 121-118. Jayson Tatum led the way with 34 points and a career-high 19 rebounds. Al Horford had 20 points and 10 rebounds while Robert Williams had 14 points and 11 rebounds. Stephen Curry led the Warriors with 29 points while both Klay Thompson and Jordan Poole had 24.

NEXT CELTICS GAME AGAINST THE HEAT: Jan. 24 at Miami

OTHER NOTES:

-Zach LaVine scored 30 points to give the Chicago Bulls a 126-108 victory against the Detroit Pistons in Paris, the NBA’s second international game. DeMar DeRozan had 26 points while Nikola Vucevic had 16 points and 15 rebounds, his 26th double-double this season. Bojan Bogdanovic led the Pistons with 25 points while Hamidou Diallo led all reserves with 17.

NEXT BULLS GAME AGAINST THE HEAT: Mar. 18 in Chicago

NEXT PISTONS GAME AGAINST THE HEAT: Mar. 19 in Detroit

-D’Angelo Russell scored 25 points to push the Minnesota Timberwolves past the Toronto Raptors 128-126. Anthony Edwards had 23 points while Kyle Anderson recorded 20 points and 10 rebounds, his third straight double-double. Scottie Barnes scored 29 points for the Raptors while Fred VanVleet had 25 points and 10 assists.

NEXT RAPTORS GAME AGAINST THE HEAT: Mar. 28 in Toronto

-Mikal Bridges scored 28 points to lead the Phoenix Suns to a 117-112 victory against the Brooklyn Nets. Deandre Ayton had 24 points and 14 rebounds while Cameron Johnson had 19 points off the bench. Kyrie Irving led the Nets with 30 points, his 10th 30-point game this season.

NEXT NETS GAME AGAINST THE HEAT: Feb. 15 in Brooklyn

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