NBA roundup: Joel Embiid seals huge 76ers win in last SECOND, Nets beat Timberwolves, Nuggets lose

Joel Embiid made a vanishing jumper from the free-throw line with 1.1 seconds remaining to give the Philadelphia 76ers a 120-119 comeback victory over the Portland Trail Blazers on Friday night.

Embiid scored 39 points, shaking off a double team of Jusuf Nurkic and Damian Lillard in the winner. The basket gave Philadelphia their first lead of the game they trailed by 21 points late in the first half as Embiid, arms outstretched to the sky, basked in the glow of chants of ‘MVP! MVP!

“As I was dribbling, I knew I had to take a step back,” Embiid said. ‘But I knew I had to get to my place, which is in that area. That’s a perfect place from my previous years. At the top of the key, the court is open because the guys don’t want to give up three-pointers.’

Portland’s last-second try after a timeout went wide on the entry play, with Lillard’s shot following the buzzer. It was the third time this season the 76ers (44-22) had come back from 20 points down.

“20 down, guys could have been saying game over and we’re on to the next one,” Embiid said. ‘But these guys keep fighting. But we have to stop putting ourselves in this position.’

James Harden added 19 points for Philadelphia despite struggling from the field. Tyrese Maxey and DeAnthony Melton each had 13 to help the 76ers win their fourth straight game.

“It wasn’t the prettiest win, but we’ll take it,” Harden said.

Anfernee Simons led Portland with 34 points on 8-of-12 shooting from 3-point range. Jeremi Grant had 24 points and Lillard 22.

“We played a tough game and we played physical,” Lillard said. ‘Defensively, we have stops. When you’re playing a good team, it all comes down to those possessions on both ends of the floor. And I thought we competed. We had many good possessions.

Simons was a game-time decision coming into the night after missing seven of Portland’s last eight games due to a sprained right ankle. He went 5-of-6 on 3-pointers in the first half as Portland made 26 of its first 38 shots from the floor to build a 21-point lead.

“For the most part, we had a great game,” Simons said. “They had a bit of a run, but we played hard and did everything we had to do to win the game.”

After giving up 71 points in the first half, Philadelphia made a defensive switch early in the second half with Embiid moving to the perimeter and PJ Tucker anchoring the middle at center. In the second half, Portland shot 4-of-17 from 3-5 point range after shooting 11-of-19 in the first half.

“The trap was effective and got Lillard all over the place,” Philadelphia coach Doc Rivers said. You can’t catch Lillard and Simons when they’re both down, but you can catch Simons when Lillard isn’t. I thought that was very effective.

NETS 124, TIMBERWOLVES 123, OT

Mikal Bridges scored 34 points and Spencer Dinwiddie blocked Mike Conley’s 3-point attempt as time expired to give Brooklyn its fourth win in five outings.

Acquired from Phoenix last month in the deal that sent Kevin Durant to the Suns, Bridges has scored 30 or more points in four of his last five games.

Dinwiddie had 29 points and 11 assists, Cam Johnson – also part of the trade with Phoenix – recovered from a blow to the face to finish with 15 points and eight rebounds, and Royce O’Neale added 12 points and 15 rebounds off the bench. .

Anthony Edwards led Minnesota with 32 points, but missed several key shots down the stretch. Rudy Gobert scored 26, the most by him since he was acquired by the Timberwolves in the offseason.

SPURS 128, NUGGETS 120

Keldon Johnson scored 23 points and San Antonio surpassed Nikola Jokic’s 37 points, 11 rebounds and 11 assists to stun Denver.

Doug McDermott added 20 points and Jeremy Sochan had 19 points for San Antonio, which shot 54% in a balanced effort with its entire roster available for one of the few times in an injury-plagued season.

It was Jokic’s 26th triple-double in what could be his third straight MVP season.

Jamal Murray added 24 points for Denver, which lost for the second straight time following a four-game winning streak.

HEAT 119, GENTLEMEN 115

Jimmy Butler scored 33 points, Tyler Herro added 25 and Miami rallied from a 14-point second-half deficit to beat Cleveland.

Bam Adebayo scored 19 points and Max Strus had 14 for the Heat, who split a two-game set at home with the Cavaliers.

Donovan Mitchell led all scorers with 42 points for Cleveland, which got 16 each from Isaac Okoro and Caris LeVert. Evan Mobley added 12 for the Cavaliers.

Cleveland (42-27) fell 3-1/2 games behind Philadelphia in the race for the No. 3 seed in the Eastern Conference. Miami (36-32) remains No. 7 in the East.

FALCONS 114, WIZARDS 107

Trae Young scored 28 points, including a key 3-pointer with 1:17 remaining that helped Atlanta hold off Washington.

The Hawks won in Washington for the second time in three days in what could be a preview of a play-in round matchup in the Eastern Conference. Atlanta is in eighth place, and the Wizards are a half-game ahead of Chicago for tenth.

The Wizards trailed by just three when Bradley Beal came up empty when attempting a quick double. Dejounte Murray made two free throws for Atlanta with 12.7 seconds remaining and the Hawks closed out the game from there.

Beal led Washington with 27 points and Kristaps Porzingis added 22.

LAKERS 122, RAPTORS 110

The Los Angeles Lakers defeated the Toronto Raptors 122-110 thanks to an outstanding performance by D’Angelo Russell, who scored 28 points and was one assist away from achieving a double-double.

Dennis Schroder had a great performance off the bench after contributing 23 points, seven assists and four steals.

Scottie Barnes and OG Anunoby did their best for the Raptors after scoring 32 and 31 points respectively