SALT LAKE CITY, Jan. 15 (BNA): Joel Embiid’s jumper with 5.7 seconds left gave the Philadelphia 76ers a 118-117 win over the Utah Jazz on Saturday night.
“I made a difficult shot, but it wasn’t supposed to go this far after we were ahead,” said Embiid, who finished with 30 points and grabbed seven rebounds.
James Harden scored 31 points and 11 assists to lead Philadelphia. Therese Maxey scored 21 points and Chic Melton added 17, the Associated Press reports.
The fourth quarter belongs to Harden, who had 18 points and made six baskets during that stretch. He hauled in 16 consecutive points for the 76ers over a 3 1/2 minute run to keep the Jazz from going ahead until late in the fourth quarter.
“I saw the opportunities,” Harden said. “The fourth quarter, they made some shots. There was an opportunity to take advantage of it and I did.”
Jordan Clarkson scored 38 points and nine rebounds for Utah. Tallinn Horton-Tucker scored 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’re not afraid of the moment,” Clarkson said, “I can tell you that.” “We’ve been in close matches all year. We fight, we bust.”
After trailing by double digits for most of the game, Utah took its first lead at 115-114 on Kessler’s tip basket with 33 seconds left in the game.
Harden and Clarkson then traded go-ahead buckets before Embiid’s jumper put Philadelphia ahead for good. Clarkson missed a 3-pointer on Utah’s final possession.
“I think our team showed a lot of fighting again, as we always do, doing some things really well as the game went on,” Jazz coach Will Hardy said.
Lauri Markkanen was sidelined with a left groin contusion and the Jazz struggled early on to fill the void left without their leading scorer.
Philadelphia shot 65% from the field within the first 12 minutes after hitting 14 of their first 19 shots and scoring a season-high 41 points in the first quarter.
Clarkson cut the lead to two on a jump before the 76ers hit back 13-2 for the game-opening break. Maxey scored three consecutive baskets, including two consecutive three-pointers, to punctuate the spurt that gave Philadelphia a 22-9 lead midway through the first quarter.
“I swear in the first six minutes, everything we did (it worked),” 76ers coach Doc Rivers said. “The guys were in the right place. The cuts were right. The passes were right.”
Utah only shot 37.5% from the field and trailed by as much as 20 points during the first quarter.
The Jazz came up on third down and cut Philadelphia’s lead to 81-80 after Clarkson and Conley made two consecutive baskets for a 14-3 thrill.
A blast from the past
Delta Center is back.
Delta Air Lines has repurchased the naming rights to the Utah Jazz home arena and it will be renamed the Delta Center effective July 1, 2023. Vivint previously acquired the naming rights as part of a 10-year deal signed in October 2015 until the opt-out of the contract opened the door for Delta. To become the rare company to resume its role in naming rights.
Bringing the Delta name back into the arena comes as part of a new multi-year partnership that includes several other branding and sponsorship rights with the team.
“We’re really getting a lot of interest from the league, from the sports, for how Utah is growing to catch up with the brands coming in,” said Jazz owner Ryan Smith. “It’s not a small market in terms of that. We’ve outgrown the narrative.”
The arena previously held the Delta Center moniker for 15 years from the time it opened in October 1991 until Delta decided not to renew the naming rights deal after filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2005.
INS tip
76ers: Tobias Harris (left knee soreness) was inactive. De’Anthony Melton tied his season with two blocks.
Jazz: Horton Tucker beat the first quarter bell with a 3-pointer from Halfcourt. Utah outscored Philadelphia 19-6 on second chance points and 20-10 on quick break points.
next one
76ers: Visit the Lakers on Sunday.
Jazz: Visit the Timberwolves on Mondays.