PORTLAND, Ore. _ The Philadelphia 76ers are back to losing.
After beating the New York Knicks on Christmas Day, the Sixers had hoped to keep their momentum Thursday night against the Portland Trail Blazers. Instead, they blew an 18-point lead en route to suffering a 114-110 setback at the Moda Center.
The loss dropped the Sixers to 15-19. It marked the 10th loss in their last 12 games.
Meanwhile, the Blazers (18-16) extended one winning streak and snapped a losing skid.
This marked their first home victory in seven games. However, Portland has won four straight series matchups against the Sixers in Portland. The Blazers were without two-time all-star point guard Damian Lillard, who missed his third consecutive game with a right hamstring injury.
But he wasn't missed as the Sixers blew another second-half lead. This time, they were up 18 points in the third quarter.
Maintaining their cushion, the Sixers led by 88-74 after JJ Redick's three-pointer with 11 minutes, 11 seconds remaining. However, the Blazers responded with a 19-0 run to take a 93-88 advantage. The Sixers didn't score their next points until Ben Simmons hit a pair of foul shots with 6:12 to play.
They were down three points (111-108) after Joel Embiid's three-pointer with nine seconds remaining. However, Dario Saric was called for a line violation when the Blazers tried to inbound the ball.
CJ McCollum converted the technical foul. Then Pat Connaughton added two more foul shots to give the Blazers a six-point lead with 5.2 seconds left.
Portland scored 42 points in the fourth quarter. The Sixers shot just 38.1 percent while committing eight of their 14 turnovers in the fourth.
McCollum erased memories of a dismal outing against the Sixers on Nov. 22 at the Wells Fargo Center. The Blazers shooting guard finished with a game-high 34 points on 9-for-20 shooting. He also made all 14 of his foul shots to go with seven rebounds, four assists and one steal.
Shabazz Napier, who started in place of Lillard, finished with a season-high 23 points. Fifteen came in the fourth quarter. Portland center Jusuf Nurkic added 21 points and a game-high 12 rebounds.
Embiid paced the Sixers with 29 points and nine rebounds. The center made a career-high six three-pointers on a career-high 12 attempts.
