Orlando Magic’s Wendell Carter Jr., left, and Philadelphia 76ers’ Joel Embiid battle for the ball during the first half Monday at Philadelphia. Matt Slocum/Associated Press
PHILADELPHIA — Seth Curry scored 24 points, Tobias Harris had 17 and the Philadelphia 76ers needed free throws in the final minute to beat the four-win Orlando Magic 101-96 on Monday night.
The Magic showed grit in a fiery second half and rallied from 16 down to tie it 93-all on Mo Bamba’s dunk with 57 seconds left. The Magic bench erupted with the team on the brink of upset.
The Sixers just hung on from the line. Ty Maxey made two for the lead, Joel Embiid hit 3 of 4 and Maxey added two more to help the Sixers avoid an embarrassing defeat. Embiid scored 16 points on 4-for-16 shooting.
Franz Wagner led the Magic with 27 points and Jalen Suggs had 17.
NUGGETS 120, HEAT 111: Nikola Jokic returned and scored 24 points, Aaron Gordon added 20 and visiting Denver snapped its longest losing streak in nearly six years.
Bones Hyland scored 19 and Will Barton added 14 for the Nuggets, who had dropped six straight. Jokic hadn’t played in the last four of those because of a wrist injury but finished with 15 rebounds and seven assists.
Bam Adebayo finished with 24 points and 13 rebounds for Miami, which was without its two leading scorers – Jimmy Butler was out with a bruised tailbone, and Tyler Herro missed the game with what the Heat called general body soreness. Adebayo had 15 of his points in the third quarter.
BULLS 133, HORNETS 119: Lonzo Ball and the host Bulls won the battle of the Ball brothers, riding a stellar performance by Nikola Vucevic to a win over LaMelo Ball and the Charlotte Hornets.
Chicago shot a season-high 59.6% from the field and had five players score in double figures. Vucevic had a season-best 30 points and grabbed 14 rebounds. DeMar DeRozan scored 28 points, and Zach LaVine, a game-time decision because of an illness, finished with 25.
With patriarch LaVar Ball watching and wearing a black hat that read “I Told You So,” Lonzo Ball improved to 2-1 in three NBA meetings with the youngest of his two brothers. He had 16 points and eight assists, and LaMelo Ball had 18 points and 13 assists.
Terry Rozier scored 31 points and Gordon Hayward finished with 22 for the Hornets, who dropped to 0-2 on its four-game trip.
ROCKETS 102, THUNDER 89: Christian Wood had 24 points and a career-high 21 rebounds as host Houston won its third straight game, beating struggling Oklahoma City.
Kevin Porter Jr. contributed a triple-double of 11 points, 11 assists and 10 rebounds, and Garrison Mathews scored 19 points for the Rockets.
Houston’s winning streak follows a 15-game skid, while the loss was the sixth straight for Oklahoma City.
TIMBERWOLVES 100, PACERS 98: Karl-Anthony Towns scored 16 of his 32 points in the third quarter and Anthony Edwards added 21 as host Minnesota to top Indiana.
The Timberwolves trailed by 12 early in the third before Towns willed them back into the game. After checking out, Edwards finished the third in strong fashion to help send Minnesota to its seventh win in eight games.
CAVALIERS 114, MAVERICKS 96: Jarrett Allen and Lauri Markkanen notched season highs with 28 and 24 points respectively, and visiting Cleveland dominated Dallas for a win.
Allen also had 14 rebounds, while Darius Garland added 18 points for the Cavaliers. Their largest lead was 31 points midway through the fourth quarter, when Markkanen’s fifth 3-pointer put Cleveland ahead 104-73.
Luka Doncic posted his second triple-double of the season with 25 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists. Doncic made a season-high seven 3-pointers (7 of 11), while his teammates went 4 for 28 from behind the arc.
SPURS 116, WIZARDS 99: Derrick White had 24 points, Dejounte Murray had 22 points and 10 rebounds, and San Antonio won at home to win consecutive games for the first time this season.
Murray also had eight assists for San Antonio, which saw six players score in double figures and last won back-to-back games (three straight) in a stretch in late April. Jakob Poeltl had 14 points, 11 rebounds and two blocks, becoming the first player from the 2016 NBA Draft with 2,000 career rebounds and 400 career blocks.
Washington had a two-game winning streak snapped as they closed out a four-game road trip at 2-2. Bradley Beal had 18 points, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope added 17 and Spencer Dinwiddie had 16 for the Wizards. Daniel Gafford added 11 points and 10 rebounds.
NOTES
NUGGETS: Michael Porter Jr. needs surgery to address his latest back injury, and there’s no known timetable yet for his return.
Porter’s agent, Mark Bartelstein, said the surgery is scheduled for Wednesday. Porter – who dealt with a serious back problem in college, so severe that some wondered if he would ever be an effective NBA player – has been limited to nine games this season.
ESPN first reported that Porter will need the surgery. Doctors will then be able to determine a likely course of recovery and how much time Porter may need before he can return.
NETS: Joe Harris had arthroscopic surgery on his left ankle, leaving the Brooklyn Nets without one of the NBA’s best 3-point shooters.
Harris was hurt Nov. 14 at Oklahoma City and has missed the past six games. The procedure in New York was to remove a loose body in his ankle.
The Nets said they would provide updates on his return as appropriate.
Harris is second in the league in 3-point shooting at 46.6% and averaging 11.3 points in 14 games. The swingman led the league in 3-point percentage in the 2018-19 and 2020-21 seasons.
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