76ers hold off Kings despite Cousins' 46 points
PHILADELPHIA -- Robert Covington had 23 points and 10 rebounds as the Philadelphia 76ers, playing without rookie center Joel Embiid, beat the Sacramento Kings 122-119 on Monday night.
Dario Saric contributed 17 points off the bench for the Sixers, who rallied from a 16-point, second-quarter deficit and withstood the 46-point, 15-rebound, five-assist effort of Sacramento's DeMarcus Cousins.
Ex-King Nik Stauskas had 16 points, and Gerald Henderson and Jahlil Okafor chipped in 15 each for Philadelphia.
The Sixers, who snapped a two-game losing streak, finished January with a 10-5 record, their best month since going 13-4 in January 2012.
Philadelphia took the lead for good on Covington's tip-in with 2:22 left in the third quarter, and they were up 110-102 with 3:32 left in the game.
The Kings twice sliced the deficit to one in the closing minutes, the last time at 120-119 on Matt Barnes' 3-pointer with 5.7 seconds left.
Henderson made two free throws with 4.9 seconds remaining to put Philadelphia up by three, and Arron Afflalo missed a wide-open 3-pointer from the right corner at the buzzer, allowing the Sixers to escape.
Okafor, who did not play in Philadelphia's four previous games, started in place of Embiid, the team's leading scorer and rebounder.
Embiid sat out his fifth game in the past six with an injury the team is describing as a left knee contusion, though Embiid said after facing Houston last Friday that doctors diagnosed the injury as a bone bruise.
Coach Brett Brown said before the game Embiid had more soreness in the knee after playing against the Rockets.
"This setback with Joel Embiid is just part of NBA life," Brown added. "I would be lying if I said it doesn't rock our boat a little bit, but it is a part of the fluid side of the NBA, and especially the fluid side of a very young program."
Cousins scored all 18 of his first-half points in the opening quarter, a period in which the Kings shot 66.7 percent from the floor to assume a 35-21 lead.
Sacramento went up by as many as 16 in the second quarter, but Philadelphia ended the half with an 18-5 run to make it 55-48 at the break. Stauskas, Covington and Sergio Rodriguez all nailed 3-pointers in that flurry.
Willie Cauley-Stein added 12 of his 17 points for the Kings in the half. Ersan Ilyasova and Okafor paced the Sixers with nine apiece before the break.
Still down 76-69 midway through the third quarter, the Sixers went on 21-9 run featuring some fine all-around play by Saric, the rookie forward from Croatia.
He sank a 3-pointer and a jumper, then found Covington and Nerlens Noel for easy baskets.
Covington capped the run with a court-length inbounds pass to Henderson for a dunk with 1.8 seconds left in the period, leaving Philadelphia in front 90-85.
The Sixers outscored the Kings 42-30 in the quarter, their highest point total in any period since January 2014.
NOTES: The 76ers are listing C Joel Embiid as doubtful for Wednesday's game at Dallas and Thursday's contest at San Antonio with a left knee contusion, though coach Brett Brown said Embiid will not make the trip at all. "Nobody needs to feel like there's a conspiracy here," Brown said. "There isn't. It's just we feel like we can do the best job for Joel in this environment." ... Sacramento C DeMarcus Cousins was named Western Conference Player of the Week after averaging 27.8 points, 14.5 rebounds and six assists last week. ... Philadelphia signed G Chasson Randle, previously with the team on a pair of 10-day contracts, to a multiyear deal. He did not play Monday.