PHILADELPHIA _ There was a thought that, despite their struggles, the Washington Wizards would give the 76ers stiff competition.
A lot of that had to with the Wizards All-Star back court of John Wall and Bradley Beal combined with the Sixers' knack for being shredding by opposing guards. But Beal and Wall weren't factors on Friday, as the Sixers prevailed 123-98 at the Wells Fargo Center.
The victory improved them to 16-8.while extending their winning streak to three games. This was also the Sixers' seventh win in eight games and improved them to 11-1 at home. Meanwhile, the Wizards (8-14) dropped to 2-9 on the road.
Washington has been a team dealing with controversy and reports of players wanting to be traded. Well, they looked the part of squad that doesn't get along on this night.
There was very little ball movement as Wizards looked to get their own shots. Most of their communication was not amongst themselves, but complaints to the referees.
Meanwhile, Wall had his worst shooting performance of the season. The five-time All-Star point guard made just 4 of 15 shots to finish with 11 points. He also had seven assists, three rebounds, three steals and two turnovers in 25 minutes, 23 minutes. Beal, a one-time All-Star, had a team-high 19 points on 6-for-13 shooting in 19:21. With the game out of hand, the two standouts sat out the fourth quarter.
The Sixers also rested their starters in the final quarter.
But that didn't stop Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons from recording double-doubles.
Embiid finished with 16 points, 15 rebounds and three blocks for his league-leading 22nd double-double of the season. He secured that double-double 2:55 into the second quarter. That's when he grabbed his 10th rebound shortly after scoring his 10th points.
Meanwhile, Simmons had 13 points, 10 assists and eight rebounds for his 15th double-double of the season. His lone blemish was six turnovers in 25:26 of action.
The Sixers had eight double-figure scorers in a game that was all but decided at intermission.
Like in Wednesday's against the New York Knicks, the Sixers jumped out to a double-digit lead in the first quarter. Embiid's foul shot with 49.5 seconds left in the quarter gave them a 15-point cushion (31-16).
They extended their lead to 22 points (63-41) following Furkan Korkmaz's 3-pointer with 1:01 left in the half. They pushed their lead up to 35 points on Amir Johnson's layup with 8:25 left.
