Coby White of the Chicago Bulls reacts during the fourth quarter against the Philadelphia 76ers at the Wells Fargo Center on December 18, 2023 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Coby White (pictured) scored 24 points and Nikola Vucevic added 23 for the Bulls, who saw a 12-point lead to start the fourth quarter whittled to one point on Tyrese Maxey's three-pointer with 33.2 seconds remaining. Picture: Tim Nwachukwu/Getty Images via AFP
The Chicago Bulls withstood a 40-point double-double from Philadelphia star Joel Embiid on Monday to snap the 76ers' six-game NBA winning streak with a 108-104 victory.
Coby White scored 24 points and Nikola Vucevic added 23 for the Bulls, who saw a 12-point lead to start the fourth quarter whittled to one point on Tyrese Maxey's three-pointer with 33.2 seconds remaining.
DeMar DeRozan, who finished with 15 points, drained a trio of free-throws to give Chicago some breathing room, and reigning NBA Most Valuable Player Embiid came up empty on two possessions in the waning seconds.
Embiid added 14 rebounds to notch his 11th straight game of at least 30 points and 10 rebounds, but the Sixers could not maintain the momentum after racing to a 16-4 lead in the opening minutes.
"I think we kind of forgot our fundamentals," Embiid said. "I thought we made a pretty good run. We came back in the game... we had opportunities, we came back. We fought. Just came up short.”
The Minnesota Timberwolves rallied late for a 112-108 victory over the Heat in Miami to match Boston for best record in the league at 20-5.
Anthony Edwards scored 32 points and Karl-Anthony Towns added 18 for the Timberwolves, who tightened the defensive screws in the second half to overcome an early 17-point deficit.
Down by six going into the final period, the Timberwolves took the lead on Michael Conley's three-pointer with 8:37 to play. Miami would edge ahead again before Naz Reid's turnaround shot gave Minnesota a one-point advantage and they would not trail again.
The Wolves notched their league-leading seventh win when trailing by double digits at any point in the game and Minnesota center Rudy Gobert said the team needs to find a way to start stronger.
"I think we have to start the game better," Gobert said. "It takes for us to get punched in the face for us to wake up and then do the things that we need to do.
"Every time we do the things we're supposed to do, especially defensively, we put ourselves in position to win the game.”
Miami were buoyed by the return of Tyler Herro and Bam Adebayo. Herro scored 25 points in his first outing after missing 18 games with a sprained left ankle. Adebayo, who missed seven games with a bruised hip, added 22.
In Indianapolis, James Harden scored 21 of his 35 points in the fourth quarter as the Los Angeles Clippers powered to a 151-126 victory over the Pacers.
Harden scored 18 straight points for the Clippers in little more than three minutes in the fourth, with Los Angeles pushing their lead to as many as 33.
Bennedict Mathurin led Indiana with a season-high 34 points, but Tyrese Haliburton -- back after missing one game with a bruised knee -- had just eight points with 11 assists and four turnovers.
The Cleveland Cavaliers had to work overtime to beat the Houston Rockets 135-130.
Donovan Mitchell scored 37 points and Sam Merrill had a career-high of 19 off the bench for the Cavs, who out-scored Houston 13-8 in the extra session and have now won 11 straight overtime games.
In Atlanta, the Hawks piled more misery on the Detroit Pistons, handing them a 24th straight defeat 130-124.
Trae Young scored 31 points and handed out 15 assists for the Hawks, who led wire-to-wire.
Cade Cunningham scored a career-high 43 points for Detroit, but the Pistons are two defeats away from matching the league's longest losing streak in a single season -- 26 games by the 2010-11 Cleveland Cavaliers and 2013-14 Philadelphia 76ers.
In Denver, the reigning champion Nuggets used a balanced attack to overcome a big night for Dallas's Luka Doncic in a 130-104 victory over the Mavericks.
Jamal Murray scored 22 points, Aaron Gordon added 21 and six Nuggets players scored in double figures.
Nikola Jokic had a quiet night with eight points, nine rebounds and seven assists, but with the rest of the Nuggets firing it was enough to withstand Doncic's 38 points, 11 rebounds and eight assists.
AFP