Coverage of the NBA playoffs continues on Thursday night as the Blazers visit the Nuggets down 3-2 in the series; Damian Lillard's Portland must win to survive, while Nikola Jokic will be hoping to lead Denver to the conference semifinals; join us live from 1am on Sky Sports Arena
Thursday 3 June 2021 07:18, UK
The Philadelphia 76ers closed out the series with ease despite missing star center Joel Embiid, thanks to a new playoff career-high from Seth Curry, a triple-double from Ben Simmons and a 28-point performance from Tobias Harris.
Seth Curry scored a playoff career-high 30 points, Tobias Harris added 28 points and nine rebounds and the host Philadelphia 76ers eliminated the Washington Wizards in five games with a 129-112 victory on Wednesday night.
Ben Simmons started at center and had 19 points, 11 assists and 10 rebounds for the top-seeded Sixers, who will meet the Atlanta Hawks in the Eastern Conference semifinals.
It was Simmons' third career playoff triple-double and moves him to second all-time in Sixers playoff history, behind only the Hall of Fame center Wilt Chamberlain.
The impressive rookie Tyrese Maxey added 13 points, veteran center Dwight Howard contributed 12 points, eight rebounds and three blocked shots, while Furkan Korkmaz had 10 points.
The Sixers played without Joel Embiid, who's recovering from a small lateral meniscus tear in his right knee. The Sixers announced that Embiid would be day-to-day moving forward but will hope the Cameroonian is fit in time for Game 1 of the semifinals.
Bradley Beal led the eighth-seeded Wizards with 32 points while Russell Westbrook had 24 points, 10 assists and eight rebounds. Rui Hachimura added 21 points.
Davis Bertans suffered a right calf strain in Game 4 and would have been side-lined for four-to-six weeks.
When Hachimura hit a 3-pointer from the top of the key with 4:38 left in the second quarter, the Wizards pulled ahead 48-44.
Simmons drove to the basket and scored with 1:30 remaining to close within 57-55. Simmons was also fouled but missed the free throw, which has been an issue throughout the series.
Danny Green made a trey with 3.6 seconds remaining and the Sixers went into the locker room with a 65-63 advantage.
The Wizards stayed close as they trailed just 89-85 after Robin Lopez dropped in a hook shot with 4:11 left in the third.
The Sixers closed the quarter strong and led 103-94. Korkmaz hit a 3-pointer from the corner, Maxey converted a difficult layup and the Sixers moved out to a 108-95 advantage just 1:25 into the fourth.
The Wizards called timeout after Philadelphia took a 116-100 lead with 6:35 remaining but appeared to be fatigued down the stretch as the Sixers clinched the series with relatively little trouble down the stretch.
