Joel Embiid scored 24 points, blocked three shots, and led the 76ers to their third straight victory, 102-93, over the Charlotte Hornets on Friday night in Philadelphia.
The Sixers are on their first three-game winning streak since they won four straight from Dec. 29, 2013 — Jan. 4, 2014. Led by Embiid, the Sixers have won five of six games overall and are no longer the league laughingstock.
‘‘I think we can beat damn near any team playing like this,’’ Sixers center Nerlens Noel said.
Embiid hit 6 of 12 shots, grabbed eight rebounds, and has made basketball fun again in Philadelphia.
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Embiid waved his arms while fans chanted ‘‘Trust the Process!’’ at him at the free-throw line. Embiid, the rookie center, even heard ‘‘MVP!’’ chants in the final minutes for his role in transforming the Sixers over the last month from cellar dwellers to a competitive team.
Embiid’s only weakness was his 0-for-5 3-point shooting.
Nicolas Batum scored 19 points for the Hornets.
Timberwolves 96, Thunder 86 — Karl-Anthony Towns had 29 points and 17 rebounds and Ricky Rubio added 14 points and 14 assists as Minnesota defeated Oklahoma City for its third straight victory.
Andrew Wiggins scored 19 points and Brandon Rush had 11 for the Timberwolves, who have won three in a row for the first time all season.
The improving Timberwolves defense held the Thunder to 38.8 percent shooting and scored 33 points off of 19 Oklahoma City turnovers.
Russell Westbrook had 21 points, 12 assists, and 11 rebounds for his 19th triple-double of the season. But he also had 10 turnovers in OKC’s first loss in four games.
Raptors 132, Nets 113 — DeMar DeRozan scored 28 points, Kyle Lowry had 20, and host Toronto handed Brooklyn its ninth straight loss.
DeMarre Carroll had 18 points and 11 rebounds, while Jonas Valanciunas added 14 points and 10 rebounds as the Raptors beat the Nets for the sixth consecutive time.
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The six straight wins matched Toronto’s longest winning streak over the Nets, established between Jan. 28, 2009, and Dec. 17, 2010.
The 132 points represented Toronto’s biggest offensive outburst of the season.
Bojan Bogdanovic had 23 points but it wasn’t enough to stop the Nets, with an NBA-worst 8-31 record, from falling to their 16th straight road loss.
They are 1-18 on the road, with the lone victory Nov. 12 in Phoenix.
Grizzlies 110, Rockets 105 — Tony Allen scored a season-high 22 points, Mike Conley added 17, and visiting Memphis rallied from a 15-point, third-quarter deficit to hand Houston consecutive losses for the first time this season.
James Harden had 27 points and nine assists for the Rockets.
Bucks 116, Heat 108 — Jabari Parker had 24 points and Giannis Antetokounmpo added 19 to help host Milwaukee hand Miami its fourth straight loss.
Antetokounmpo also had eight rebounds and six assists after being limited by illness throughout the week. Greg Monroe added 16 points and 11 rebounds.
Goran Dragic and Hassan Whiteside each had 19 points for the Heat.