Embiid helps fast-starting 76ers rout Blazers, 101-81

PHILADELPHIA (AP) – Joel Embiid had 28 points, 12 rebounds and two blocks and the fast-starting Philadelphia 76ers handled another Western Conference opponent with relative ease, beating the Portland Trail Blazers, 101-81 on Wednesday night.
 
Coming off a 21-point victory over Utah on Monday night, the 76ers scored the game’s first 16 points and held a double-digit lead most of the way.
 
Portland missed its first 13 shots before Shabazz Napier came off the bench and hit a jumper with 5:01 left in the first quarter. The Blazers never got closer than eight. It was the Blazers’ lowest points total of the season, and the fewest that Philadelphia has allowed.
 
Damian Lillard had 30 points for Portland. He hit four of his six 3-pointers in less than four minutes, but three times the Sixers answered with a 3-pointer of their own.
 
After Lillard cut Portland’s deficit to nine late in the third, Embiid answered with a basket, block, slam, jumper – and then the exclamation point. In the final seconds of the quarter, Lillard drove to the bucket, but Embiid spiked the ball away from behind volleyball style, and the frenzied crowd at the packed Wells Fargo Center erupted.
 
TIP-INS
 
Trail Blazers: After scoring Portland’s first points, Napier followed with a 3 and two free throws to account for the Blazers’ first seven points. … The crowd greeted former Sixer Evan Turner with a loud round of boos. The 76ers drafted Turner second overall in 2010. … The Blazers had held seven of their last eight opponents under 100 points. … Forward Al-Farouq Aminu (ankle) missed his ninth straight game.
 
76ers: The last time the Sixers took a 16-0 lead was Oct. 30, 2013 against Miami. They scored the game’s first 19 points that night. … Ben Simmons had three steals and has 35 on the season. Simmons finished with 16 points and nine assists. … In the game’s final minute, the fans chanted “We want Okafor!” Seldom used big man Jahlil Okafor, the third overall pick in the 2015 draft, didn’t get in the game and has played only two games this season.
 
UP NEXT
 
Trail Blazers: At Brooklyn on Friday night.
 
76ers: Host Orlando on Saturday night.
 
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