Tobias Harris and Joel Embiid flipped on their postseason switch.
As a result, the 76ers are leading the Washington Wizards, 1-0, in the best-of-seven opening-round playoff series. Harris finished with a postseason career-high 37 points and Embiid added 30 as the Sixers held on to a 125-118 victory at the Wells Fargo Center Sunday afternoon.
Harris’ previous postseason career high was 29 points, which came against the Brooklyn Nets in Game 3 of an opening-round series on April 18, 2019. He nearly had that many points in the first half of Sunday’s matchup, scoring 28.
Harris also finished Sunday’s game with six rebounds and two assists.
However, the Sixers needed all of his points to win what amounted to a dogfight. The eighth-seeded Wizards led at the half and never gave the top-seeded Sixers a breather. Washington closed the gap to 121-116 with 1 minutes, 30 seconds remaining.
After the teams went over 1:15 without a score, Embiid hit a pair of foul shots with 14.1 seconds left to give the Sixers a 123-116 cushion.
The Sixers will look to improve on their performance when the teams square off in Game 2 Wednesday night at the Center.
Embiid overcame early foul trouble and put the finishing touches on the victory. Seth Curry added 15 points, all in the second half, and Ben Simmons had six points, and career playoff highs of 15 rebounds and 15 assists.
Harris’ 28 first-half points came on 12-of-19 shooting. That was big for the Sixers with Embiid saddled with three fouls. The MVP finalist played only 10:25in the first half.
While Harris was on fire, the Sixers made only 3 of 17 first-half three-point shots. The Sixers’ poor outside shooting combined with Embiid’s absence contributed to the Wizards leading, 62-61, at the break.
Curry caught an elbow in the torso late in the first half and headed to the locker room. He returned at the start of the second half.
