PHILADELPHIA (AP) Joel Embiid stretched his balky back each time he had a moments rest.
Those vital health breaks were fleeting Embiid gutted out nearly 40 minutes, showing again that the days of the All-Star center missing seasons and stretches of games with injuries have become a faded memory.
Embiid had 33 points and 19 rebounds, and the Philadelphia 76ers used a pair of four-point plays in the fourth quarter to beat the San Antonio Spurs 122-120 on Wednesday night.
He felt the responsibility to play, coach Brett Brown said. Hes starting to get older and feel the weight of the responsibility. He understands his role in all of this, the growth of all of this, the ownership of all of this.
Embiid, expected to be named an All-Star starter on Thursday, shook off LaMarcus Aldridge and scored 16 straight points that kept the Sixers in the game. Landry Shamet ended Embiids personal run with a four-point play late in the fourth that pulled the Sixers within one.
After the Spurs nudged ahead, Shamet hit a 3 to make it a three-point game and JJ Redick gave the Sixers a 121-120 lead with 1 minute left after he converted Philadelphias second four-point play of the fourth.
The Spurs blew their chances to win: Philadelphia had a shot-clock violation, but DeMar DeRozan had his shot blocked by Wilson Chandler.
Corey Brewer went 1 of 2 from the free-throw line for a 122-120 lead with 1.1 seconds left. San Antonios final shot at sending the game into overtime was denied when Ben Simmons broke up an inbound pass headed for Marco Belinelli, with DeRozan on the bench.
We couldnt get one bucket to keep ahead and try to pull it out, DeRozan said.
DeRozan led the Spurs with 26 points.
Embiid went 13 of 28 from the floor and had two 3-pointers. Embiid, who had his NBA-best 33rd game this season with at least 20 points and 10 rebounds, hit a 3 from the top of the arc and connected on the tying free throws the next time down to send the game into the fourth tied 96-all.
The 76ers turned in the sequence of the half after Brewers 3 made it 51-48. Jonah Bolden blocked Aldridge twice on the same sequence and Simmons grabbed a loose ball off the second rejection. He took off and fed it to Bolden for a crowd-igniting dunk on the other end. Redick followed with a 3 for a 56-48 lead that had the four-point favorite Sixers rolling.
