Joel Embiid, 76ers Cruise Past Clippers on Tuesday Night

Joel Embiid and the 76ers are rolling out West.

The Philadelphia 76ers’ five-game road trip has been widely successful so far. On Tuesday, Joel Embiid and the Sixers increased their current win streak to three-straight after snagging a victory over the Los Angeles Clippers.

Over the weekend, the Sixers paid a visit to the Utah Jazz on Saturday night. After defeating the Jazz earlier in the year, the Sixers found similar success. Although Philadelphia’s early 20-point lead wasn’t sustained, they still managed to come out on top in the one-point thriller.

The following night, the Sixers engaged in the first of two matchups in Los Angeles at Crypto.com Arena. The first opponent they came across was the Los Angeles Lakers. Once again, the Sixers couldn’t seal the deal until the final seconds, but they proved that they could close out games when the scoreboard was tight late in the matchup.

With another one-point game coming down to the final seconds, a big defensive stand helped the Sixers snag their second-straight victory.

Tuesday’s game against the Clippers didn’t keep up with the same trend. In the first quarter, the Sixers led by as many as seven points, closing out the first 12 minutes of action with a 34-27 lead. To no surprise, Sixers center Joel Embiid led the way with 13 points on 5-8 shooting from the field.

In the second quarter, Embiid turned his play up a notch again. Scoring more than half the Sixers’ second-quarter points, Embiid had 15 of the team’s 29 points. Tobias Harris put up ten of his own, as the Sixers outscored the Clippers 29-25 before going into halftime.

After a 28-point showing in the first half, it was clear Tuesday’s game was going to be a high-scoring Joel Embiid night. As the Sixers’ big man was unstoppable on the offensive end through the first half, the Sixers continued riding the hot hand in the third quarter.

Philadelphia’s strategy worked. In his next 11 minutes on the court, Embiid feasted at the free throw line, knocking down seven of his eight foul shots. Although Kawhi Leonard and the Clippers flipped the script a bit, outscoring the Sixers by ten and even gaining a four-point lead at a point, the Clippers still trailed by one going into the fourth quarter.

Embiid was the hot hand in the beginning, and Tyrese Maxey was the flame-thrower in the fourth quarter. Checking in for nearly ten minutes in the fourth quarter, Maxey hit on three of his four threes. He scored 13 points in the fourth quarter, helping the Sixers outscore the Clippers 30-21 in the final 12 minutes.

With another run to close out the game, the Sixers put the Clippers away 120-110. Embiid led the charge for Philly, scoring a game-high of 41 points on 12-22 shooting from the field and 15-18 shooting from the charity stripe. 

Producing another 40-plus-point performance this year, Embiid has now exceeded that scoring total in seven games this year. He did it twice against the Clippers this season, as he scored 44 points in their first meeting back on December 23.

With their latest victory, the Sixers advance to 28-16 on the year. 

Justin Grasso covers the Philadelphia 76ers for All76ers, a Sports Illustrated channel. You can follow him for live updates on Twitter: @JGrasso_.