FILE β Joel Embiid #21 of the Philadelphia 76ers speaks with referee Brandon Adair #67 during overtime in a game against the Utah Jazz at Wells Fargo Center on March 03, 2021 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Tim Nwachukwu/Getty Images/AFPΒ
Joel Embiid scored 21 points, Ben Simmons returned from a four-game absence with an illness to add 12 and the host Philadelphia 76ers routed the struggling Oklahoma City Thunder 121-90 on Monday.
Tobias Harris contributed 11, Furkan Korkmaz and Paul Reed added 10 each and Dwight Howard swept 11 rebounds for the Sixers (40-21), who compiled 22 steals and snapped a season-high four-game losing streak. Starter Danny Green was held out with a sore hip.
It is the fastest the Sixers have reached 40 wins since 2001 when they advanced to the NBA Finals.
The Thunder (20-41) tied a franchise mark set in 2008 with their 14th consecutive loss.
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Ty Jerome led the Thunder with 22 points while Darius Bazley added 14, Moses Brown had 11 and Theo Maledon 10.
After the Thunder closed within 48-39, Embiid hit a runner in the lane and a 3-pointer, Shake Milton added a jumper and the Sixers extended their lead to 16 with 4:39 left in the second quarter.
Simmons threw down a dunk with 1.0 second remaining and the Sixers went into the locker room with a 60-45 lead. Embiid led the Sixers with 15.
Jerome paced the Thunder with 12 off the bench, including a pair of 3-pointers.
The Sixers quickly opened the third with a trey from Embiid and a driving layup from Harris for a 65-45 advantage.
The young Thunder struggled to put together a run from there and trailed 82-58 after another trey from Jerome with 4:09 to go in the third.
Philadelphia led 93-66 at the end of the third and opened the fourth with all reserves.
Oklahoma City continued to be hurt by turnovers and committed their season-high 25th less than two minutes into the fourth.
Tyrese Maxey (11 points) dropped in a 3-pointer with 9:28 left to give the Sixers a 100-68 advantage.
The Thunder soon went through another tough three-and-a-half stretch without a basket and fell behind 111-74 with 5:17 remaining.