PHILADELPHIA — Joel Embiid’s facial expression after an awkward turn was the lone giveaway.
The 76ers star is playing on a bad back, but hardly anyone would know it by Friday night’s performance. Embiid was his normal dominating self, leading the Sixers to a 111-101 victory over the Dallas Mavericks at the Wells Fargo Center.
He finished with game highs of 32 points and five steals to go with eight rebounds as the Eastern Conference third-place team improved to 43-26. It was Embiid’s league-leading 33rd game with at least 30 points.
But this was a balanced attack with the Sixers having five double-digit scorers.
James Harden finished with 24 points, 13 assists and seven rebounds. Tobias Harris (14 points) and Matisse Thybulle (10, two steals and one block) and reserve Georges Niang (12 points) were the other double-digit scorers. Meanwhile, reserve center DeAndre Jordan (eight points on 3-for-5 shooting, seven rebounds) had his best game since signing with the Sixers on March 3.
Former Villanova standout Jalen Brunson paced the Mavs (43-27) with 24 points. However, the Sixers did a solid job of containing Luka Dončić. The All-Star point guard finished with 17 points, 10 assists and seven rebounds, but only made 5 of 20 shots.
Embiid’s dominant night
The center was listed as questionable with back soreness against the Mavs, marking the second consecutive game he was listed with the ailment. Yet Embiid still finished with game highs of 35 points and 17 rebounds against the Cleveland Cavaliers after his uncertain status prior to the start of Wednesday’s game.
On Friday, the MVP frontrunner made 11 of 20 shots and went 8 of 9 from the foul line.
Embiid scored 21 of his points in the first half. It marked the 60th time this season that he scored at least 15 points in the half. That tied him for the NBA lead with Chicago Bulls guard DeMar DeRozan.
Brunson’s hot homecoming
The game was a nice homecoming for Brunson. He played numerous home games at the arena in college. On Friday, it was as if he never stopped playing there. Brunson had a performance reminiscent of when he was 2018 Naismith Player of the Year.
He scored the first seven points of the game, forcing Sixers coach Doc Rivers to call a timeout 1 minute, 56 seconds into the game.
Brunson opened the game with an 18-foot jumper, then followed that up with a 22-foot three-pointer. And Rivers called his timeout immediately after Brunson buried a 13-footer.
But the fourth-year veteran didn’t stop there.
Brunson went on to make his first seven shots en route to shooting 10 for 14.
The Mavs were without Reggie Bullock (personal reasons), Tim Hardaway Jr. (left foot surgery) and Theo Pinson (fractured right fifth finger).
