76ers fight back from 21 down, turn to 'MVP' Joel Embiid to deliver win

PHILADELPHIA — When Joel Embiid caught the ball with 7 seconds to go in Friday night's game at Wells Fargo Center between his Philadelphia 76ers and the Portland Trail Blazers, he had one thing on his mind:

Get to his favorite spot on the floor — the free throw line area — and get off a clean shot.

«Once I got there,» Embiid would say later, «I just knew I had to make it.»

He didn't disappoint.

Embiid drained a fallaway jumper with 1.1 seconds to go — a bucket that gave Philadelphia its first lead of the entire contest — and lifted the 76ers to a thrilling 120-119 win over Portland in front of a raucous sellout crowd of 21,001.

The win, Philadelphia's fifth in six games since the calendar flipped to March, came after the 76ers (44-22) were dominated by the Trail Blazers (31-36), who led by as many as 21 and never were even tied with Philadelphia until midway through the fourth quarter.

«It wasn't our night until 1.1 seconds, when you think about it,» 76ers coach Doc Rivers said. «We stayed at it. We were looking for everything and just couldn't get going, man. We looked like we were in mud in the first half on both ends.

»That's a hell of a win for us because we didn't have a lot, and you could see it."

Philadelphia certainly didn't have anything in the first half, when they allowed the Blazers — and, in particular, Anfernee Simons, who finished with 34 points and went 8-for-12 from 3-point range — to do whatever they wanted.

Things, though, began to turn around in the second half, and Philadelphia quickly began to narrow the gap, setting up Embiid's heroics.

«Defense,» said Harden, who had 19 points, nine rebounds and eight assists, when asked what changed in the second half. «We got some stops. We settled into the game