The Sixers kept their grip on the Eastern Conference lead Wednesday night, leaving Detroit with a 112-106 road win that pushed them to 8-1 and dropped the Pistons to 6-2.
It was a night that had a little of everything from Philadelphia’s top names. Jaylen Brown finished with a season-high 30 points and seven rebounds, Joel Embiid added 26 points and a season-best 15 rebounds, LeBron James posted 13 points, 10 rebounds and eight assists, and Tyrese Maxey chipped in 19 points and seven assists.
Detroit got 27 points from Duncan Robinson and 26 from Cade Cunningham, but the Sixers did enough across four quarters to stay unbeaten away from home at 4-0. They also remained the East’s lone leader.
Philadelphia was without Dominick Barlow, who is dealing with a lower back stress reaction, and Ariel Hukporti, who has a right Achilles tendon tear. The Pistons were missing Jalen Duren because of a right hamstring strain and Isaiah Joe with a right hip contusion. Nick Nurse said in Detroit that he thinks “it'll be another 10 to 12 days before they kind of clear (Barlow) for getting on the court to see where he is,” according to Sixers Wire’s Ky Carlin.
Embiid’s first half touched almost every part of the game. He set up the Sixers’ opening basket with a sharp pass out of a double team, finding Brown on a baseline cut for a layup. Detroit came out aggressive with its double drag looks, forcing Embiid to work on the perimeter, and the Pistons opened 7 for 11 from the field before taking a 17-11 lead on a Robinson three.
Philadelphia answered with a 10-0 burst, and Embiid was central to it. He finished a put-back after a nice high-low feed from James, then knocked down two free throws to put the Sixers ahead. From there, their defense tightened and Detroit’s offense cooled off.
Brown took over the scoring load early while Maxey struggled to find his rhythm. On his 26th birthday, Maxey missed his first four shots and didn’t score until a floater with 31.5 seconds left in the first quarter.
Brown, meanwhile, put up 10 points in the opening period on 4-for-6 shooting and capped it with a deep buzzer-beating three that made it 29-21. He was getting points from everywhere, choosing his spots well and looking completely in sync with the offense.
James kept the ball moving, too. He set up two Adem Bona dunks in the second quarter and repeatedly found open teammates.
Nurse gave Bona a long run after his strong start, and Brown kept stretching the floor, drilling a corner three to push the lead to 48-31. Brown went 3 for 5 from deep and is now shooting 45.7 percent from three this season, a sharp jump from last year’s 34.7 percent.
Maxey picked up his third foul with 3:26 left in the second quarter and went to the bench, but the Sixers still went into halftime up 14.
The Pistons had their best stretch to start the third quarter. After a John Collins alley-oop, Nurse called timeout with the lead down to single digits. Detroit kept scoring for a while, but Philadelphia never let the game turn into a full-on run.
Embiid brought a physical edge to the third, tipping in his own miss before Maxey buried a three to make it 84-68. The Sixers led by as many as 17 in the quarter.
Embiid played through the fourth after sitting it out Monday against the Bulls, when he said he was on a 25-minute restriction because of right foot plantar fasciitis. Against Detroit, he logged 33 minutes. Bona went back to the locker room early in the fourth, and Nurse later said he had “neck soreness.”
Detroit made things interesting late. Robinson hit a three, Cunningham made two free throws, then drove for a layup to trim the margin to 106-102.
But Philadelphia shut the door before the night could turn. Brown blocked a Cunningham three-point attempt, Embiid sank two free throws, and the Sixers finished off another road win.
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