NBA roundup: Embiid injured, 76ers stumble and lose to Wizards - pressherald.com

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Washington guard Russell Westbrook had 19 points, 21 rebounds and 14 assists and Washington beat Philadelphia on Monday night, 122-114. Nick Wass/Associated Press

WASHINGTON — After the Philadelphia 76ers lost NBA MVP finalist Joel Embiid to a sore right knee late in the first quarter Monday night, they lost their Game 4 lead — and their chance at the franchise’s first playoff sweep in 36 years.

Bradley Beal’s 27 points, Russell Westbrook’s 12th career playoff triple-double and Washington’s strategy of fouling Ben Simmons whenever possible down the stretch all helped the Wizards beat the 76ers 122-114 to cut Philadelphia’s series edge to 3-1.

Game 5 of the best-of-seven Eastern Conference first-round series is Wednesday at Philadelphia.

Won’t be easy for that one to be as eventful as this one was, including the third-quarter sight of a fan running out of the stands and onto the court before being slammed to the ground by a security guard. Nothing had as much of an effect on the outcome and, potentially, the rest of this postseason for Philadelphia, the East’s No. 1 seed, as what happened to Embiid, who came into the night averaging better than a point per minute in the series.

In Game 3’s 29-point win for the 76ers, for example, he produced a playoff career-high 36 points in 28 minutes against the Wizards, who needed to go through the play-in round just to get the No. 8 seed.

But the center headed to the locker room late in the first quarter after taking a hard fall behind the baseline when his shot was blocked by Robin Lopez. Embiid tried to play on, wincing and leaning over during breaks in play, before checking out eventually and limping off. He never returned and finished with eight points and six rebounds in 11 minutes.

Philadelphia led by as many as 11 in the opening period but that was down to 61-60 at halftime. And Washington took over briefly in the third quarter, leading by as much as 92-78 in its final minute. A back-and-forth fourth quarter was tight down the stretch after Danny Green’s layup with under 4 1/2 minutes to go made it 106-all.

That’s when Washington basically took the ball out of Philadelphia’s hands, sending Simmons to the line repeatedly down the stretch with a version of the old Hack-a-Shaq strategy that Shaquille O’Neal used to face. Simmons came into the night 0 for 9 on free throws in the series and was 1 for 3 for the night before Hack-a-Ben went into full effect – he made 1 of 2 tries each of the final four times he stepped to the line to end up 5 for 11.

He had 13 points and 12 rebounds. Tobias Harris led the 76ers with 21 points and 13 rebounds.

Philadelphia center Dwight Howard, right, watches as a fan who ran onto the court is restrained by security personnel during the second half Monday’s game against the Washington Wizards in Washington. Nick Wass/Associated Press

FAN TACKLED ON COURT: A fan was tackled as he tried to get on the court during Monday’s playoff game between the Wizards and 76ers, the latest example of unruly behavior as teams increase the number of spectators they’re allowing in the stands during the pandemic.

“You can tell those people have been in some sort of captivity for the last year, year and change, right?” Wizards center Robin Lopez said. “It’s kind of wild to see the liberties people are taking.”

The players were heading toward Washington’s basket in the third quarter when the action was halted because of the intruder, who jumped as if pretending to try to dunk. A security guard grabbed and held down the person near the baseline as 76ers center Dwight Howard stood nearby. The fan was escorted away from the court and play resumed after a brief interruption.

“I don’t know what he was trying to do,” Washington forward Rui Hachimura said. “I think they’re just excited to come back. But they’ve got to be more respectful of us as players. They think they can do whatever they want.”

After beginning this season with zero spectators allowed at its arena, Washington has steadily increased the capacity to the point where Monday’s contest – Game 4 against Philadelphia in their first-round series – had an announced attendance more than 10,000.

“The stuff that’s been happening over the last week – we all know that fans shouldn’t be doing that stuff. That shouldn’t happen during the game,” Beal said. “Just sit there and enjoy the game or stay home and watch it on TV. We’re fortunate nobody got hurt.”

During this series, Westbrook had popcorn dumped on him as he walked to the locker room after getting injured in Game 2 at Philadelphia.

“I don’t know what’s going on with these fans right now,” Sixers Coach Doc Rivers said. “We’ve just got to have safety.”

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