Berlin (STATS Perform/dpa) – Joel Embiid’s career night led the Philadelphia 76ers to a 132-103 rout of the Washington Wizards, pushing the top seed in the Eastern Conference to the brink of a series sweep.
Embiid established a new playoff career high with 36 points in just 28 minutes, making 14 of 18 shots from the floor and adding eight rebounds.
Embiid had 25 points and seven rebounds at the interval as Philadelphia built a comfortable lead before pulling away in the second half.
Embiid’s previous playoff career high was 34 against the Boston Celtics last season.
Tobias Harris added 20 points, 13 rebounds and five assists, while Ben Simmons had 14 points and nine assists for the Sixers.
Philadelphia made an impressive 58.6 per cent of their shots from the field (51 of 87) while limiting Washington to 38 of 96 shooting (39.6 per cent).
Russell Westbrook led the Wizards with 26 points, 12 rebounds and 10 assists while Bradley Beal scored 25.
The Nuggets had a rough shooting night all the way around in their 115-95 loss to Portland.
Denver made only 32 of 94 shots from the field (34 per cent), including just 13 of 44 (29.5 per cent) from three-point range, and Nikola Jokic led the scoring with just 16 points on seven of 18 shooting.
Ja Morant put on a show in a 121-111 losing effort for the Memphis Grizzlies, scoring 28 points to give him 101 in the series.
Morant is the fourth player in NBA history to score at least 100 points over his first three playoff appearances and the first since Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in 1970. Wilt Chamberlain and George Mikan are the other two.