Trail Blazers hand 76ers a home loss

Jusuf Nurkic scored 24 points and grabbed 10 rebounds to lead the visiting Portland Trail Blazers past the Philadelphia 76ers 130-115 on Saturday.

Damian Lillard added 17 points, eight assists and six rebounds as the Trail Blazers won their third straight. Enes Kanter also had 16 points and eight rebounds as Portland won its second in a row away from home on a seven-game road trip.

Ben Simmons led the Sixers with 29 points, 10 assists and seven rebounds while Tobias Harris added 20 points.

JJ Redick struggled with just seven points on 1-of-10 shooting. Redick’s streak of scoring in double figures in 64 straight games was snapped.

The Sixers played again without injured All-Star center Joel Embiid and guard/forward Furkan Korkmaz.

The Trail Blazers closed the first half on a 16-7 run to take a 59-56 lead into the locker room. Trailing by six late in the second quarter, the Trail Blazers continued to be aggressive on the offensive glass and it paid off.

Simmons had a couple of late baskets, but the Sixers still trailed 100-82 after three quarters.

The game became quite chippy early in the fourth when Kanter and Simmons exchanged words and had to be separated by the officials. Simmons attempted to keep the Sixers somewhat close, but Portland kept coming up with huge shots.

Seth Curry’s driving layup gave the Trail Blazers a 115-95 lead with 6:06 left.

It was more than enough of a cushion to hand the Sixers a rare home loss. The Sixers fell to 24-8 at home.