SALT LAKE CITY (AP) – Joel Embiid made a jumper with 5.7 seconds left to lift the Philadelphia 76ers to a 118-117 victory over the Utah Jazz on Saturday night.
“I made a tough shot but it shouldn’t have come to that after we were up by so much,” said Embiid, who finished 30 points and seven rebounds.
James Harden had 31 points and 11 assists to lead Philadelphia. Tyrese Maxey scored 21 points and Shake Milton added 17.
The fourth quarter belonged to Harden, who had 18 points and made six baskets during that stretch. He accounted for 16 straight points for the 76ers over three minutes to keep the Jazz from going ahead until late in the fourth quarter. “I saw opportunities,” Harden said. “Fourth quarter, they made some shots. There was an opportunity to take advantage of it and I did.”
Jordan Clarkson had 38 points and nine rebounds for Utah. Talen Horton-Tucker chipped in a season-high 20 points off the bench. Mike Conley added 14 points and eight assists, while Walker Kessler finished with 15 points and 12 rebounds.
Clarkson scored 17 in the fourth, helping fuel a late rally.
“We ain’t scared of the moment, I can tell you that,” Clarkson said. “We have been in close games the whole year. We fight, we scrap.”
After trailing by double digits for much of the game, Utah took its first lead at 115-114 on Kessler’s tip-in basket with 33 seconds left.
Harden and Clarkson subsequently traded go-ahead buckets before Embiid’s jumper put Philadelphia ahead for good. Clarkson missed a three-pointer on Utah’s final possession.
“I think our team showed a lot of fight again, as we always do, executed some things really, really well as the game went on,” Jazz coach Will Hardy said.
Lauri Markkanen was sidelined with a left hip contusion and the Jazz struggled early to fill the void left without their leading scorer.
Philadelphia shot 65 per cent from the field over the first 12 minutes after making 14 of its first 19 shots and scored a season-high 41 points in the first quarter.
Clarkson cut the deficit to two on a jumper before the 76ers answered with a 13-2 run to break open the game.
Maxey scored three straight baskets, including back-to-back three-pointers, to punctuate the spurt that gave Philadelphia a 22-9 lead midway through the first quarter.
“I swear the first six minutes, everything we did (worked),” 76ers coach Doc Rivers said.
“Guys were in the right spot. The cuts were right. The passes were right.”
Utah shot just 37.5 per cent from the field and trailed by as many as 20 points during the first quarter.
