Philadelphia’s Joel Embiid poured in 41 points and grabbed 11 rebounds in 31 minutes, leading the 76ers to a 129-111 win in Detroit on Wednesday as the Pistons matched the longest losing streak in franchise history.
The Pistons have dropped 21 straight, a club record for a single season. They had another 21-game slide spanning the end of the 1979-80 season and the beginning of 1980-81 campaign.
Tobias Harris had 21 points and seven rebounds for the Sixers, while Kelly Oubre Jr. tossed in 17 points.
Bojan Bogdanovic scored a season-high 33 points for Detroit, which plays at Philadelphia on Friday. Cade Cunningham added 21 points and seven assists.
Embiid was unstoppable in the first quarter, piling up 19 points and eight rebounds as the Sixers jumped to a 39-26 lead. He shot 5-for-8 from the field and made all nine of his free throws in the opening period, while Cunningham missed all five of his field-goal attempts.
Philadelphia’s lead grew to 17 in the first 3 1/2 minutes of the second quarter. Detroit answered with seven straight points, five from Bogdanovic.
Embiid then hit a mid-range shot and Sixers maintained a double-digit advantage the rest of the half. Embiid drained a 3-pointer with 1:34 left in the second quarter to make it 64-48.
His putback in the final second of the half gave him 30 points and Philadelphia a 70-56 halftime advantage. He also had 10 boards at the break. Cunningham had 13 second-quarter points for Detroit.
Embiid’s first bucket of the second half was a layup off a Nicolas Batum feed, giving the 76ers an 82-64 lead.
Embiid’s three-point play with 4:57 remaining in the quarter made it 89-74. The lead grew to 20 just 47 seconds later on two Embiid free throws.
Philadelphia also scored the last eight points of the quarter, including a jump hook by Embiid, to carry a 104-80 lead into the fourth.
Detroit center Isaiah Stewart was ejected in the final minute of the third quarter for shoving Patrick Beverley to the floor. Beverley struck Stewart with an elbow moments earlier.
A Tyrese Maxey layup with 7:35 left in the game increased the Sixers’ lead to 30 points.
–Field Level Media
