Noel helps 76ers upend Clippers
PHILADELPHIA -- Nerlens Noel, subbing for an injured Joel Embiid, scored a season-high 19 points as the Philadelphia 76ers beat the Los Angeles Clippers 121-110 on Tuesday night.
Backup forward Richaun Holmes matched his career high of 18 points for Philadelphia, which rallied from a 19-point third-quarter deficit to extend its home winning streak to six games. Dario Saric added 16 and Robert Covington had 14.
The Sixers also won for the fourth time in five games, the seventh time in nine and the ninth time in 12.
Embiid, Philadelphia's leading scorer and rebounder, missed the game with a contusion of the left knee. Reserve center Jahlil Okafor also sat out with a sore right knee.
The Sixers shot 50 percent from the floor, made 19 of 20 free throws and committed a season-low five turnovers, while forcing 19.
Jamal Crawford scored 27 points and J.J. Redick added 22 for the Clippers, who were without coach Doc Rivers because of illness.
Austin Rivers had 20 points for Los Angeles. Forward Blake Griffin, who returned after missing the previous 18 games following arthroscopic knee surgery, contributed 12 points, 11 rebounds and five assists.
DeAndre Jordan had 10 points and 20 rebounds, but was 4 of 12 at the foul line. Los Angeles was 26 of 41 as a team.
The Clippers missed 18 of their last 26 shots from the floor after taking a 78-59 lead early in the third quarter.
Crawford's jumper 16 seconds into the fourth quarter snapped an 89-89 tie and gave the Clippers their last lead of the game, but Covington answered with a 3-pointer.
The Sixers pushed their lead to 113-100 on a layup by T.J. McConnell with 3:19 remaining.
The Sixers moved to a 27-23 lead late in the first quarter behind 11 points from Holmes, but a 9-0 run bridging the first and second periods gave the Clippers the lead.
Los Angeles led by as many as 11 in the second quarter, as Crawford poured in 11 of his 16 first-half points, including three 3-pointers.
By halftime the Clippers were up 68-59 on the strength of 12-for-19 3-point shooting. Crawford was 4-of-6 from the arc. Redick went 3-of-5 en route to a 15-point half, while Rivers was 3-of-4 while scoring 13.
Holmes led the Sixers with 14 points.
Redick and Rivers each made a 3-pointer as Los Angeles scored the first 10 points of the third quarter to extend its lead to 78-59, but Philadelphia responded with a 28-8 rush to go up 87-86 with 36.3 seconds left in the period.
Saric contributed seven straight Sixers points in one stretch, and nine in all during the run, and the Clippers managed one field goal in a 9:19 span.
After Sergio Rodriguez gave the Sixers that 87-86 lead with two free throws, Crawford answered with a 3-pointer. Saric's two free throws knotted the score at 89-all heading into the fourth quarter.
NOTES: Sixers F Ben Simmons, who has been out all season with a broken right foot, played one-on-one on Sunday at about "80 percent" speed, according to coach Brett Brown. Brown said there is no timetable for Simmons to begin playing four-on-four or five-on-five, and a team spokesman said there is no timetable for his return. ... Clippers F Luc Mbah a Moute marvels at the strides Sixers C Joel Embiid has made since the former first saw the latter in a gym in their homeland of Cameroon in 2010. "Obviously when I saw him he was still very raw, 'til now," he said. "All the compliments to him, to put in the work. But he had the base for everything." ... Embiid will not play Wednesday, when the Sixers visit Milwaukee.