Some considered Monday night’s matchup with the Detroit Pistons as a trap game for the Philadelphia 76ers with the looming showdown with Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Milwaukee Bucks on Christmas Day. The Sixers put any of those thoughts to bed with a big third quarter effort to run away from the Pistons and win it fairly easily 125-109.
Tobias Harris led the Sixers with 35 points and seven rebounds while knocking down four 3-pointers and Furkan Korkmaz scored a season-high 21 points off the bench. Ben Simmons had a gaudy stat line of 16 points, 17 assists, and 13 rebounds and Joel Embiid had 20 points and eight rebounds.
Harris continued his strong play against the Pistons after scoring 29 points against them in a win in October.
Tobias Harris is lighting it up with 35.
Joel Embiid and Mike Scott love it. pic.twitter.com/thZLMcQjvj
— NBC Sports Philadelphia (@NBCSPhilly) December 24, 2019
Philadelphia as a team shot 54.5% from the floor and they made 12-for-30 from deep in a good offensive night for them. The Pistons tried to use a zone defense earlier in the game, but they could not run it like the Miami Heat and the Dallas Mavericks earlier in the week. The Sixers busted that zone easily.
The Sixers defense was stifling as Al Horford led an effort that held Detroit superstar Blake Griffin to just eight points on 2-for-14 shooting. The Pistons were led by Andre Drummond who had 27 points and nine rebounds as he came off the bench. [lawrence-related id=21997,21987,21964]