76ers withstand Wizards’ best to take Game 1

PHILADELPHIA — So much of Sunday’s Game 1 went right for the Washington Wizards. Bradley Beal moved around with ease, looking the healthiest he had in weeks. Joel Embiid, the man they needed to stop, got into foul trouble early. And the Wizards hit shots against an elite defense — even carrying a lead into the third quarter.

Still, there were a handful of mistakes that in the end cost the Wizards a chance to pull off an improbable Game 1 upset on the road.

That’s what made the 76ers’ 125-118 win that much harder to swallow.

“We didn’t play great at all,” said Beal, who had 33 points, “and we were still in the game, we still had the opportunity to win.”

The Wizards successfully executed much of their game in a bid to steal one from the top-seeded 76ers. Instead, they find themselves in a 1-0 hole in the best-of-seven first-round series because of sequences they weren’t good enough on the margins.

That won’t work against a team as good as Philadelphia. Not when you’re facing stars like Embiid, Ben Simmons and, yes, Tobias Harris. Harris, the unheralded wing in Philadelphia’s big 3, led all scorers with 37 points.

The 76ers, with the league’s second-best-rated defense, clamped down in the third quarter to storm back on a 16-4 run that swung the game. Over just a three-minute stretch, Philadelphia raced down the floor and found open shooters from deep. Harris tied the game with an open 3, and then Seth Curry drained one from deep to give the 76ers the lead.

“I’m surprised we didn’t win,” Wizards coach Scott Brooks said. “We were thinking about winning. We don’t want to be close. We had enough of those early in the season. We were solid, but not good enough.”

The Wizards entered this series as underdogs with a long to-do list, but chief among them was clear: Defend without fouling.

That especially applied to Embiid, the MVP candidate who led the league in free throw attempts per game with 10.7. The Wizards already saw up-close the damage Embiid could do in the regular season when the 27-year-old went 27-of-28 from the line in three meetings against Washington.

Brooks praised Embiid, talking about the “crafty” way he draws fouls by ripping through a defender’s dangling arm, initiating the contact so the referees

have almost no choice but to blow their whistle.

In the first half, the Wizards caught a break in that regard — thanks to the fact that Embiid was hardly on the floor. Embiid picked up his third foul with seven minutes to go in the second quarter, giving Washington a chance to capitalize on the absence.

They used a late first-quarter run, after Embiid’s second foul, to take a narrow 28-27 lead. And Daniel Gafford, part of Washington’s three-man center rotation, feasted while Embiid sat — posting a plus 18 in the first half. That means

Washington outscored the 76ers by 18 points when Gafford was in the game.

But the Wizards only led by one, 6261, at halftime and it felt like a missed opportunity. Particularly, Harris kept Philadelphia in the contest for the 76ers. He had 28 of his 37 at halftime, and Embiid had only played 10 minutes.

With Embiid back on the court for the majority of the second half, the momentum swung toward the 76ers.

The Wizards struggled to defend Embiid. Their double teams on the big man hardly led to turnovers and Embiid still scored. Even worse for Washington, Embiid started to get to the line.

Embiid finished with 30 points and went 12-of-13 from the charity stripe.

Simmons was also vital for Philadelphia, especially during the 76ers’ third-quarter run. A defensive player of the year candidate, Simmons’ length bothered Beal and co-star Russell Westbrook. Beal and Westbrook combined for 12 of Washington’s 15 turnovers — four coming in the third.

Philadelphia’s Seth Curry capped Philadelphia’s surge with a 3-pointer that gave the 76ers an 88-81 lead — causing Wells Fargo Center to erupt. The 76ers allowed 10,000 fans — up to 50% capacity — for Game 1, leaving players to remark how the contest truly felt like a playoff game.

The energy also was palpable when the game started to slip away for Washington. With less than five minutes left in the fourth, 76ers guard Danny Green hit a 3-pointer that ballooned Philadelphia’s lead to nine.

After the basket, Westbrook waved his arm and motioned his teammates to hurry down the floor. But the disappointment on their face said it all.

Game 2 is Wednesday at 7 p.m.

“They won the first game,” Brooks said. “If it was last week, the play-in tournament, it would not be a good feeling right now. But it’s the best of (seven).”