The NBA season continued tonight (Sunday), with two games starting before the night games from the best league in the world. In focus: James Harden’s triple double led Philadelphia to 111:123 over Detroit and made him the 27th player in league history to surpass the 24,000 point mark. Toronto also won over Portland.
Detroit (11:32) – Philadelphia (24:15) 123:111
Harden led the Sixers to victory over the Pistons, with 20 points, 11 rebounds and 11 assists. Tyrese Maxey added 23 of his own, en route to a fourth win in the last five games for the Phillies. The visitors led 54:71 at halftime, when Harden completed his triple double 27 seconds into the second half.
On the other side, Killian Hayes’ 25 wasn’t enough for Detroit, which continued its volatile ability. The gap narrowed 3 and a half minutes to the end of the game, but from there the Sixers cruised to victory, against Detroit without Jaylen Doran and Marvin Bagley. Isaiah Stewart and Boyan Bogdanovich added 20 points.
Toronto (17:23) – Portland (19:20) 105:117
27 points for Pascal Siakam, who led the Raptors scorers on the way to their first victory after three consecutive losses. Toronto looked great and on two different occasions Blue led by less than 19, thanks in part to 22 from Scotty Barnes and another 19 from Gary Trent Jr. However, the hosts also lost that lead twice.
An offensive display by Damian Lillard, who recorded 34 points on just under 50% from the field, helped the Blazers get back into the game twice, but unfortunately for the visitors, 22 by Anferni Simmons and 18 more by Josh Hart did not help Portland avoid a third straight loss and a negative balance of the season .