PHILADELPHIA _ The 76ers once again produced in the clutch to nab a victory over a struggling opponent.
They used a 13-0 run in the fourth quarter to defeat the Charlotte Hornets, 108-94, Monday night at the Wells Fargo Center.
It marked the third straight time the Sixers (39-30) used a late run to beat an inferior team. It happened Friday against Brooklyn Nets and Thursday against the New York Knicks.
However, the sixth-place Sixers pulled within a half-game of both the fifth-place Indiana Pacers and fourth-place Washington Wizards in the Eastern Conference standing with 13 games remaining.
Meanwhile, the Hornets (30-41) have lost two straight and eight of their last 10 games.
Ben Simmons had 11 points, 15 assists and 12 rebounds for his ninth triple-double of the season. This marked the Sixers rookie point guard's 19th 10-assist game of the season, which passed Hall of Famer Allen Iverson's franchise rookie record.
Simmons also has the most 10-assist games by any league rookie since Washington Wizards point guard John Wall had 25 in 2010-11.
Joel Embiid finished with a game-high 25 points along with a career-high tying 19 rebounds and four blocks. Marco Belinelli had 21 points in a reserve role while making 5 of 9 3-pointers. Meanwhile, Robert Covington added 18 points.
Kemba Walker paced the Hornets with 24 points.
The Sixers went on to score their decisive points after the Hornets knotted the score at 88 on Malik Monk's dunk with 6 minutes, 16 seconds remaining.
Belinelli jumpstarted the Sixers 13-0 run with a jumper. Robert Covington followed that up with a pair of 3-pointers before Belinelli added one. Simmons capped the run with a pair of foul shots with 3:42 left to make it a 101-88 game.
But the Sixers looked sluggish in the first half, trailing 56-49. However, things changed in the third quarter.
They took an 81-70 lead into the fourth quarter after outscoring the Hornets, 32-14, in the third quarter. The Sixers did that producing a defensive effort that coach Brett Brown was proud of.
Charlotte made just 19 percent (4 of 21) of their shots in the quarter. Jeremy Lamb made 2 of 5. Kemba Walker hit 1 of 5, and Dwayne Bacon was 1 of 2. The rest of the squad went 0-for-9.
Meanwhile, the Sixers made 52.2 percent of their shots while going 7 of 14 on 3-pointers in the quarter.
However, the Hornets opened the fourth quarter on a 18-7 run to knot the score at 88.
