Sixers hold off Simmons and Nets, Lillard sinks 60

The Philadelphia 76ers won their grudge match against Ben Simmons and the Brooklyn Nets 137-133 on Wednesday as Damian Lillard erupted for 60 points in Portland's victory over Utah.

After an acrimonious split from Philadelphia last year, Simmons returned to his former home to face a hostile reception from the Sixers crowd.

The game marked the first time that Simmons has faced former team-mate Joel Embiid since his trade to Brooklyn last February that sent James Harden to Philadelphia.

Simmons left Philadelphia last year after locker-room tensions with Embiid, and the lingering bad blood was evident from the outset.

The high-scoring first quarter was dogged by trash-talking as the sides scored 41 points apiece and gave up a combined 13 fouls.

Despite his team coming away with the win, Sixers coach Doc Rivers was unhappy with Philadelphia's "emotional" approach to the game.

"There's a difference between intensity, playing with emotion and being too emotional," Rivers said afterwards.

"I thought our side honestly were on the wrong side of that a lot tonight. We have to be better at handling our emotions."

Tyrese Maxey led the Sixers' scoring with 27 points, while Embiid finished with 26 and Harden 23.

Seth Curry led Brooklyn's scorers with 32 points while Kyrie Irving added 30. Simmons was restricted to 12 points.

In Portland, Lillard bagged the fourth 60-point performance of his career as the Trail Blazers won a thrilling shoot-out with the Utah Jazz 134-124.

Lillard nailed nine three-pointers while shooting 21 of 29 from the field as Portland improved to 23-25 in the Western Conference standings.

"That was incredible," Blazers coach Chauncey Billups said of Lillard's performance. "You don't get to see that very often."

Lillard is