Rick Carlisle lamented an "ugly" performance from the Indiana Pacers after his team lost to the Los Angeles Clippers.
The Pacers went down 151-127 to the Clippers on Monday, suffering a fourth straight defeat.
Since losing to the Los Angeles Lakers in the final of the NBA's in-season tournament, Indiana have won just one game, with that victory coming against the struggling Detroit Pistons.
And Carlisle pointed to a mentality shift being required if the Pacers are to turn things around.
"Tonight was ugly. It's just something that's not acceptable," he said after the Clippers game.
"I don't care how talented they are, or anything else, we just allowed them to really do whatever they wanted to do. I've got to take responsibility for not having these guys ready to play.
"We've got a huge target on our back because of winning some games in the tournament. The Pacers aren't sneaking up on anybody.
"But our mindset, if it's shifted to just simply trying to outscore teams and away from any kind of emphasis defensively, that's got to stop. If it means massive lineup changes, then that's what will happen."
"We're missing some of our best defenders right now, that doesn't help. But it's not a valid excuse. We're making a lot of mistakes, and we just need to do it better and we need to do it harder."
Carlisle did, however, refuse to accept full responsibility for the slump, putting the onus on the Pacers' star players.
"Our best players have to understand and they have to believe that the little things are important," he added.
"That concentration and focus are extremely important. And so when the best players believe it, they preach it and it becomes gospel. It can't just be the coach."
Tyrese Haliburton, who managed just eight points, echoed Carlisle's sentiment, saying: "I think that we got to where we were by just playing harder than people. And we’re not doing that right now. So the switch has to flip here, pretty quick."
While the Pacers are on a skid, the Clippers are in fine form, having now won their last eight games. It is the team's longest winning streak since a 10-game run in the 2015-16 season.
Kawhi Leonard, Paul George and James Harden ran the Pacers ragged, with the latter scoring 18 of his game-leading 35 points in the fourth quarter.
"It was fun to watch," Leonard, who had 28 points, said of Harden's fourth-quarter charge.
"We're not trying to play the score. We're trying to win the quarters. And even if we have 20 points, we've still got to do our jobs and be efficient."
Harden, who also added nine assists, said: "We're playing very, very well right now, so we just have to stay consistent in what we do. Every game is a new challenge for us as a unit.
"We're figuring it out, we're coming together, our chemistry is building game by game. There's a long way to go but we're definitely headed in the right direction."
An all-star team led by Ryan Moore, who was last week crowned Longines World’s Best Jockey for the fourth year in a row, won the Markel Jockeys Jumping in aid of the Injured Jockeys Fund on Monday evening.
The event is held at the London International Horse Show, formerly known as Olympia, and sees two teams of jockeys take on a course of show jumps against the clock with the fastest collective time winning.
Moore’s team, consisting of Tom Scudamore, Joanna Mason, Sam Twiston-Davies and Harry Skelton – son of Olympic gold medallist, Nick – completed the course in a cumulative time of 124.28 seconds.
Moore’s rivals were led by 20-time champion National Hunt jockey Sir Anthony McCoy and also featured former champion Flat jockey Jim Crowley, Harry Cobden, Lilly Pinchin and Kielan Woods.
Two equestrian champions provided their invaluable expertise as team coaches in Pippa Funnell and Nick Skelton – both Olympians – and it was a tightly-contested battle with just eight seconds between the two teams.
The contest benefits the IJF, which has been established for 60 years and provides much needed help to injured jockeys and their families.
While his team mates and rivals were aboard experienced showjumpers, Scudamore partnered a horse more familiar to him in the former steeplechaser Kingswell Theatre.
Trained by the rider’s brother, Michael, Kingswell Theatre won seven races and enjoyed the finest moments of his career around the cross-country course at Cheltenham.
In 2017 he won the Glenfarclas Cross Country Handicap Chase at the track’s November meeting and in 2020 he returned to the same contest to score by five lengths.
Now 14, the gelding has been retired from racing since 2021 and turned his hoof successfully to a new discipline when jumping a clear round under the lights at the ExCeL arena – a challenging atmosphere for any horse.
“He was absolutely fantastic, it was a privilege to be asked and it’s an event everyone very much enjoys,” said Scudamore.
“It was great to do it on Kingswell Theatre, he’s been such a legend in our family and he certainly didn’t let anyone down.
“It was a big ask of him because though he’s done lots of different things, he hasn’t done much showjumping. He wouldn’t have done nearly as much as the other horses because they were all proper showjumpers.
“To go and do what he did just shows you what a wonderful individual he is, he is pretty unique.
“The atmosphere was the one thing I was worried about but he loved it, whenever there’s people clapping he thinks it’s for him and he loves the attention.”
The work of the IJF has been in the spotlight in recent weeks since the serious spinal injury suffered by Grand National and Group One-winning jockey Graham Lee at Newcastle in November.
Scudamore added: “It is a special event every year, but this time it really resonated as we’re all thinking of Graham Lee and his family. It’s been a sobering few weeks for everyone involved in the sport, so it feels more important than ever to support the IJF.”
Nottingham Forest boss Steve Cooper’s position is under severe threat after the club held talks with former Wolves and Tottenham boss Nuno Espirito Santo about taking over at the City Ground, the PA news agency understands.
Cooper’s tenure is in doubt following a run of just one win in 13 Premier League games, which has seen Forest plummet to just five points above the drop zone.
Officials from the club have spoken to the Portuguese about replacing Cooper, PA understands.
Nuno has been out of work since leaving Saudi Pro League club Al-Ittihad in November. He appears in line for a return to the Premier League two years after his sacking from an ill-fated four-month stay at Spurs.
Cooper has had the support of the Forest fans after taking them from the bottom of the Championship to Premier League survival last season.
It was fan power that saved him from the sack last term, but with another summer of heavy investment from owner Evangelos Marinakis, it looks as if the Greek businessman has lost patience.
Reports in Portugal suggest a deal for Nuno could be tied up before Saturday’s home clash with Bournemouth.
The Wanda Diamond League has released a detailed summary of which disciplines will be staged at which meetings during the 2024 season.
In 2024, the world’s best athletes will once again take the stage in athletics’ premier one-day series, competing at 15 meetings across four different continents.
Athletes will compete for points in their chosen discipline at the 14 series meetings between April and September, with the most successful qualifying for the Wanda Diamond League Final in Brussels on September 13th-14th.
The season begins in Xiamen on April 20th, with the men’s 100m, women’s 200m and a 100/110m hurdles double bill among the headline events. Each discipline will then be staged at least four and up to eight times on the Road to the Final, giving athletes from across the globe enough opportunities to earn points.
Two meetings will be held at a different location in 2024 due to stadium renovation works in their usual locations. The Meeting International Mohammed VI will move from Rabat to Marrakech, while the Wanda Diamond League Shanghai will take place in Suzhou.
The 14 series meetings will each take place in a two-hour TV world programme and will all stage at least 14 Diamond Disciplines. The Wanda Diamond League Final in Brussels will be the only meeting to feature every single discipline, with all 32 Diamond League champions crowned over the course of two days.
The season calendar and the allocation of disciplines remain subject to change.
A list of disciplines for each meeting will also be available under the 'programme and results' page on each individual meeting website.
As well as the Diamond Disciplines, each meeting may also include additional disciplines in their programme, in which athletes will not earn points on the Road to the Final.
The disciplines are as follows: 100m (M,W), 200m (M,W), 400m (M,W), 800m (M,W), 1500m/Mile (M,W), 3000m/5000m (M,W), 3000m Steeplechase (M,W), 110m Hurdles (M), 100m Hurdles (W), 400m Hurdles (M,W), High Jump (M,W), Pole Vault (M,W), Long Jump (M,W), Triple Jump (M,W), Shot Put (M,W), Discus Throw (M,W), Javelin Throw (M,W).
Bryony Frost will be on the sidelines for a couple of days following a fall while schooling on Monday.
Frost, who has been in a rich vein of form in recent weeks, hopes to be back in action at Ascot on Friday and then again on Saturday when she is due to ride the Paul Nicholls-trained Red Risk in the Howden Long Walk Hurdle.
She had been due to ride at Fakenham on Tuesday and Newbury on Wednesday, but has sat those out in an attempt to ensure she is fit for the weekend and, further ahead, the ride on Frodon in the King George on Boxing Day.
Her agent Iain Turner said: “She’s had a spill while schooling and we’re planning on her being back at the weekend.
“It’s one of those – with Boxing Day coming up it’s just a case of not taking any risks, which is frustrating as she had some nice chances at Fakenham.
“She’s been on a good run since her injury, and of course she was just touched off in the December Gold Cup on Il Ridoto on Saturday so this has just halted everything.
“As far as I know everything is set for her being back at Ascot on Friday, then she’s got Red Risk in the Long Walk and Frodon on Boxing Day to look forward to.”
Marie’s Rock is being readied for a defence of her Relkeel Hurdle crown on New Year’s Day after connections decided against a tilt at Saturday’s Long Walk Hurdle at Ascot.
Nicky Henderson’s dual Grade One winner proved much too strong for Dashel Drasher in the Relkeel at Cheltenham last season, prompting the Middleham Park Racing team to seriously consider stepping up to three miles in the Stayers’ Hurdle at the Festival in March.
Ultimately, though, she was kept against her own sex in a bid to secure back-to-back victories in the Mares’ Hurdle, but failed to fire as retiring superstar Honeysuckle stole the show.
Having subsequently run with credit over the extended distance at Aintree in the spring, optimism was high when she tackled three miles again in last month’s Long Distance Hurdle at Newbury, but Marie’s Rock could finish only fourth behind her old rival Dashel Drasher, prompting a change of direction.
“She was a bit too free and fresh at Newbury to get an accurate reading on whether she stayed the three miles and we’ve decided to go back to what we know for her next start,” said Middleham Park’s National Hunt racing manager Tom Palin.
“I was probably a bit too bullish for my own good before Newbury, but horses to have a tendency to make you look silly at times! She was certainly the liveliest I’ve seen her in recent memory in the parade ring beforehand and Nico (de Boinville) felt the damage was done before the tapes even went up.
“We’ll go back to two and a half on soft ground at Cheltenham, which we know she loves, burn some more freshness off her and get her really fit before going back up to three miles, either in the Cleeve Hurdle back at Cheltenham on Trials day or there’s a Grade Two mares’ race at Ascot on January 20.”
Palin is fully aware the Relkeel Hurdle will be no penalty kick for Marie’s Rock, with Henry de Bromhead’s resurgent Irish star Bob Olinger among her potential rivals.
He added: “It’s not a bad race the Relkeel, by the way – it’s not a case of we’re dodging the Long Walk and ‘only’ going for the Relkeel. It was a very competitive race last year and it looks like it’s going to be at least as strong this time around.
“Unless it’s very obvious in the Relkeel that she doesn’t want any further, we’re keen to give her another go over three miles afterwards as that will tell us whether we aim for the Mares’ Hurdle again at the Festival or have another look at the Stayers’ Hurdle.
“She is a mare at the end of the day, so let’s see if we can get some more wins into her, starting off in a race where we know everything should be right for her.”
Mouse Morris has been forced to rule Gentlemansgame out of his Christmas objective in the Savills Chase at Leopardstown due to a minor foot injury.
The grey burst on the three-mile chase scene when beating last year’s King George winner Bravemansgame in the Charlie Hall Chase at Wetherby.
Morris had been preparing the lightly-raced seven-year-old for the Leopardstown highlight ever since, but the Robcour-owned gelding will now wait for either the Cotswold Chase at Cheltenham or the Dublin Racing Festival.
“He’s just got a small issue with a foot, it’s nothing I’m concerned about but it’s the the timing of it that is a pain,” said Morris.
“It’s not serious, it’s just a total pain, so we’ll look at Cheltenham now or the Dublin Racing Festival, something like that.
“Unfortunately it’s been the case with him he’s had niggly issue that have kept him off the track but at least this is not one of his old problems, it’s just one of them things.”
Morris also had news of French Dynamite, third to Classic Getaway at Thurles last month.
“He came out of Thurles well, but he’s very hard to place now,” said Morris.
“I think I’m considering trying to get him qualified for the National so he needs to be placed over three miles, that might be what we do. We’ll jiggle him around a bit.”
Australia fast bowlers Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins have become the most expensive players ever sold at the Indian Premier League auction, smashing the record held by England all-rounder Sam Curran.
Starc has not played in the IPL since 2015 and the left-arm quick’s return to the fray drew a bidding war that ended in an unprecedented bid of £2.34million (24.75 crore rupees) from Kolkata Knight Riders.
Cummins had earlier been picked up by Sunrisers Hyderabad for just under £2million (20.5 crore), with both fees eclipsing the £1.77m Punjab Kings paid for Curran last year. Starc and Cummins had both signed up with a base price of less than £200,000.
Cummins is making his comeback to the tournament after a one-year absence to focus on his international commitments, during which he has captained Australia to glory in the World Test Championship and 50-over World Cup on Indian soil.
While those successes placed a premium on the available Australian talent, England’s terrible World Cup campaign saw their stock fall on the trading floor in Dubai.
Veteran Chris Woakes landed a deal worth a fraction under £400,000 as he joined team-mates Curran and Liam Livingstone at Punjab Kings, while Harry Brook was snapped up for around £380,000 by Delhi Capitals.
Brook had been released after one season of a £1.3m deal with Sunrisers and the Yorkshireman settled for a healthy but much-reduced payday.
He hit one superb century in his first IPL campaign but was otherwise badly short of runs with just 190 in 11 matches.
Sunrisers also splurged on another Australian, Travis Head, who capped a stellar year with a match-winning 137 in the World Cup final in Ahmedabad. He cost around £645,000 (6.8 crore) as he returned to the tournament for the first time since 2017.
West Indies T20 captain Rovman Powell was the first player to go under the hammer at the event in Dubai and fetched a surprisingly lavish £700,000 bid from Rajasthan Royals, while New Zealand all-rounder Daryl Mitchell scooped the biggest cheque of his career when he went to Chennai Super Kings for £1.3million.
CSK also signed Mitchell’s fellow Kiwi Rachin Ravindra, the breakout star of the World Cup, for a modest £170,000.
Anthony Davis does not believe the Los Angeles Lakers are suffering a "championship hangover" since their NBA Cup success despite another defeat against the New York Knicks.
A big night from LeBron James, who had 25 points, 11 assists and 11 rebounds in a triple-double for the Lakers, was backed up by 32 points and 14 rebounds from Davis at Crypto.com Arena.
But New York's Jalen Brunson scored 29 points, Julius Randle had 27 points and 14 rebounds, and Immanuel Quickley added 20 points as the Knicks prevailed 114-109 on Monday, improving to 15-11.
It was the Lakers' third loss in four games since winning the inaugural In-Season Tournament.
The team unveiled their championship banner for the NBA Cup success ahead of the game and Davis is not overly concerned about their post-tournament slump.
"I mean, we are not losing by 20," Davis said. "We are in every game, we are fighting, competing, playing hard.
"I don't think it's a championship hangover. I don't think that it's one of those.
"We go in and have a battle against Dallas. Win against San Antonio. And then obviously let one slip away again against them.
"And then a fight tonight. I don't think it’s one of those things where we are hungover from the in-season tournament.
"It's tough, because for the whole month of December, we've basically been on the road.
"There's nothing we can really do about it. It's the schedule. We've just got to take care of our bodies and get some guys back, hopefully in the next couple of games. But it's definitely a mental challenge."
LeBron, meanwhile, felt the tournament may have been one of many factors in a difficult spell, pointing out the runner-up Indiana Pacers are 1-4 since losing to the Lakers in the championship game.
He said: "It could be a little bit of everything, I don't know. Have you seen Indiana's record since Vegas?
"I feel like our energy was up and down throughout the course of the game.
"We've been feeling it, definitely. Even through that, we still competed and gave ourselves a chance, but it's a tough one for us."
James enjoyed seeing the banner unveiled and still has fond memories of the tournament, for which he was named the MVP.
He added: "I think it's awesome. To be able to acknowledge wins throughout the course of a marathon, that's pretty cool.
"That's the first, the inauguration of it. We were able to win it. So, for our fans that didn't get an opportunity to be in Vegas, they got an opportunity to kind of share that celebration with us, share that moment, something that will live on forever for sure here. So, it was a good moment."
Coach Darvin Ham was happy to reflect on the NBA Cup success, with the Lakers (15-12) now preparing for a three-game road trip that starts against the Chicago Bulls on Wednesday.
"It's great for the organization," he said.
"Obviously, [the tournament is] something that's going to be around. It's only going to get bigger and better.
"I think it's really, really cool that we're doing that. Especially being the first to win the inaugural in-season tourney.
"It's been a great shot in the arm in terms of us rising to the occasion from a competitive standpoint and it furthermore creates and sustains a foundation that we're trying to set in terms of getting through the regular season and then, ultimately, into the playoffs.
"I think it's huge. The intensity in which everyone played. You could feel it. It's great.
"Anytime you can get highly competitive basketball with the best athletes in the world, I think it's great for the fans, great for the organizations and ultimately great for the NBA.
"Now we have just got to push through this time. It's normally like that in December and January. So, we will be fine, we will watch it on film as we prepare to also get ready for this three-game trip."
Los Angeles is eighth in the Western Conference and also faces Minnesota and Oklahoma City this week after their game in Chicago.
LeBron added: "We want to finish out December the right way. Obviously, it's been a killer for us with the travel and games and things of that nature. There is no rest for the weary.
"We just got to mentally stay locked in and get ready for Chicago first."
Australia captain Pat Cummins has landed a record £1.94million contract at the Indian Premier League auction with England pair Harry Brook and Chris Woakes picking up deals worth just under £400,000.
Cummins sat out the 2023 tournament to focus on international cricket but became even hotter property after leading his side to the World Test Championship and last month’s 50-over World Cup on Indian soil.
Four teams vied for the fast bowler’s signature and Sunrisers Hyderabad ended up paying 20.5 crore rupees, eclipsing the previous high of 18.5 crore (£1.77m) Punjab Kings paid for English all-rounder Sam Curran last year.
Cummins, 30, had entered with a base price of just under £200,000 and saw the bidding war up his fee by a factor of 10.
Sunrisers had plenty of budget to play with having released Brook after one season of a £1.3m deal, with the Yorkshireman picking up a healthy but much-reduced payday with the Capitals.
He hit one superb century in his first IPL campaign but was otherwise badly short of runs with just 190 in 11 matches.
Woakes was later drafted for just under £400,000 by Punjab, joining his England team-mates Curran and Liam Livingstone.
Sunrisers also splurged on Cummins’ fellow Australian Travis Head, who capped a stellar year with a match-winning 137 in the World Cup final in Ahmedabad. He cost around £645,000 (6.8 crore) as he returned to the tournament for the first time since 2017.
West Indies T20 captain Rovman Powell was the first player to go under the hammer at the event in Dubai and fetched a surprisingly lavish £700,000 bid from Rajasthan Royals, while New Zealand all-rounder Daryl Mitchell scooped the biggest cheque of his career when he went to Chennai Super Kings for £1.3million.
CSK also signed Mitchell’s fellow Kiwi Rachin Ravindra, the breakout star of the World Cup, for a modest £170,000.
Fergal O’Brien’s Dysart Enos is likely to be seen once more before taking aim at a Cheltenham return for the Festival in March.
Last season the mare made her mark when winning three bumpers in good style, including a defeat of the useful Queens Gamble at Market Rasen and then a wide-margin success in a Grade Two event at the Grand National meeting.
Her hurdling career has been equally successful so far, with the five-year-old taking her debut over obstacles by seven and a half lengths at Huntingdon in November.
She then lined up at Cheltenham on Friday in what has historically been a good race, previously won by the likes of Datsalrightgino, Chantry House and Elixir De Nutz.
Under Paddy Brennan she was the 5-6 favourite and cantered home a comfortable victor, with the runner-up beaten two and three-quarter lengths and the third over 13 lengths away.
A return to Cheltenham for the showpiece meeting is the ultimate aim, with O’Brien hoping to find another suitable outing for the mare before then.
“She’s very well and we’re really pleased with her. She did it well at Cheltenham, I’m not much into timing but people say she did it very fast,” he said.
“You need a fast one and her last furlongs were fairly fast, so fingers crossed that bodes well.
“You couldn’t fault her, she did everything we wanted her to do and took the whole thing in really well.
“Cheltenham is different to anywhere else, I know it’s not March and there’ll be twice as many people there, or three times as many, but it’s still great to get her there.
“When, hopefully, she goes back there in March, she’ll be in familiar surroundings having been there before.
“There was plenty of depth in there, it was a nice race to go for and it ticked a lot of boxes for us.”
O’Brien will now scour the calendar for the mare’s next outing, with early February considered the ideal time for her final run before the highlight of the National Hunt season.
“The obvious one is Doncaster in January, but Paddy (Brennan) feels that might be too soon, we’d probably be happier with the first week in February,” he said.
“It’s just trying to find somewhere where she hasn’t got a load of weight, we’ll give it a go and try to find something.”
Whilst Dysart Enos made a success of the meeting, the O’Brien team did suffer some disappointment when Bonttay unseated Brennan in the Virgin Bet Every Saturday Money Back Mares’ Handicap Hurdle.
The mare has been incredibly consistent for connections having never finished out of the top two coming into the race, and on the turn for home she looked poised to add to her record as she approached the penultimate hurdle on the bridle.
A third Cheltenham success was not to be, however, as the six-year-old misjudged the obstacle and pecked heavily on landing before parting ways with her rider.
Thankfully both horse and rider were unharmed and O’Brien hopes to find another day for the mare to shine.
“It was a long way out so it’s a bit difficult to know whether she’d have won or not, but she’s come out of it fine,” he said.
“She had a little scratch on her hind leg but other than that she’s OK, she’ll be fine for another day.”
England batter Harry Brook has been signed by the Delhi Capitals for four crore rupees (around £380,000) at the Indian Premier League 2024 player mini auction.
The 24-year-old began his first IPL season with Sunrisers Hyderabad but will now make the switch to Delhi and was the second player to be auctioned behind West Indies batter Rovman Powell.
Last year, Sunrisers paid over £1.3million for Brook but he scored just 190 runs in 11 matches in the 2023 season.
James Harden scored a season-high 35 points to lead the scorching Los Angeles Clippers to an eighth consecutive win with Monday's 151-127 blowout of the Indiana Pacers.
Kawhi Leonard added 28 points and Paul George had 27 as the Clippers' two other stars also had big nights to keep the league's hottest team rolling. Harden chipped in nine assists as well, while Ivica Zubac compiled an 18-point, 16-rebound double-double.
The Clippers took control with a 10-0 second-quarter run that gave them a 67-57 lead with under 3 1/2 minutes left in the first half, then headed into the break with a 77-66 advantage.
Los Angeles then outscored the Pacers by a 37-28 margin in the third quarter to stretch the margin further, and Harden ended any hopes of an Indiana comeback by putting up 21 points on 7-of-8 shooting in the fourth.
The Pacers lost their fourth straight game despite a career-high 34 points from Bennedict Mathurin. Tyrese Haliburton, Indiana's leading scorer for the season, dished out 11 assists but was held to eight points on 3-of-12 shooting.
Nuggets blow out Mavericks in clash of West contenders
Jamal Murray scored 22 points, Aaron Gordon tied a season high with 21, and the Denver Nuggets cruised to a 130-104 win over the short-handed Dallas Mavericks in a showdown between two of the Western Conference's top teams.
The defending NBA champion Nuggets shot 56.3 per cent from the field and led from start to finish en route to a fourth victory in five games. Reggie Jackson delivered 20 points off the bench on 9-of-12 shooting, while Gordon finished 7 of 9 and Murray was perfect on four attempts from 3-point range.
Dallas got 38 points, 11 rebounds and eight assists from Luka Dončić, but couldn't overcome the absence of fellow star Kyrie Irving as well as key contributors Josh Green and Dereck Lively and lost for the second time in three games.
Gordon had 16 first-half points as the Nuggets took a 68-59 lead into the break, then extended their advantage to 20 points after a 10-0 run late in the third quarter put the Mavericks at a 94-74 deficit.
Denver then rested its entire starting lineup in the fourth quarter while building a lead as large as 36 points.
Bulls continue surge, snap 76ers' six-game winning streak
Coby White racked up 24 points, eight rebounds and nine assists as the Chicago Bulls continued their recent hot play and cooled off the Philadelphia 76ers with a 108-104 victory.
Chicago has now won six of its last nine games following a 5-14 start despite two-time All-Star Zach LaVine being sidelined by a foot injury. Nikola Vucevic had 23 points and eight rebounds for the Bulls, who had a 12-point lead after three quarters reduced to one late before holding on.
The 76ers had a six-game winning streak halted despite another huge performance from Joel Embiid, who totalled 40 points, 14 rebounds and six assists.
Tyrese Maxey added 29 points and eight assists, but no other Philadelphia player managed more than eight points.
White had 16 first-half points as Chicago took a 55-44 lead into the break. Chicago was up 81-69 entering the fourth quarter before the 76ers rallied late to pull within 105-104 on a Maxey 3-pointer with 33.2 seconds left.
Embiid misfired on two shots afterward, though, and Chicago's DeMar DeRozan sealed the game by making three of four free throws in the final stages.
Sidney Crosby scored the go-ahead goal in the third period and moved further up the NHL's all-time points list in the Pittsburgh Penguins' 4-3 win over the Minnesota Wild on Monday.
Crosby also assisted on Jake Guentzel's power-play goal in the second period and now has 1,535 career points, two more than former teammate Mark Recchi for 13th in league history.
Guentzel and Evgeni Malkin also had a goal and an assist for Pittsburgh, which won for the third time in four games despite blowing an early 3-0 lead. Alex Nedeljkovic made 24 saves for the Penguins.
After Pittsburgh's Reilly Smith scored the lone goal of the first period, Guentzel redirected Erik Karlsson's one-timer 36 seconds into the second to give the Penguins a 2-0 advantage before Malkin extended the margin nearly three minutes later.
The WIld responded, however, as Ryan Hartman and Jake Middleton scored 2:24 apart late in the second to cut the deficit to 3-2 before Minnesota tied the game on Vinni Lettieri's tip-in 5:33 into the third.
Minnesota's Kirill Kaprizov was sent off for high-sticking just 12 seconds after Lettieri's goal, though, and Crosby converted on the ensuing power play to send the Penguins back ahead.
Filip Gustavsson finished with 26 saves for the Wild, who had a three-game winning streak halted.
Markstrom helps Flames down Panthers in return
Jacob Markstrom made 33 saves in a sharp return from a fractured finger to help the Calgary Flames to a 3-1 win over the Florida Panthers.
Mikael Backlund and Blake Coleman both had short-handed goals in the third period to back Markstrom in the goaltender's first appearance since Dec. 2. Martin Pospisil also had a goal as Calgary improved to 2-0-2 over its last four games.
Backlund's goal with the Panthers on a power play snapped a 1-1 tie 3:31 into the third period. Markstrom made 10 saves in the final stanza, which Coleman capped with an empty-net tally with 1:33 remaining to thwart Florida's comeback hopes.
Pospisil put Calgary ahead 8:45 into the opening period before Sam Reinhart's 18th goal of the season, a power-play score, tied the contest 31 seconds before the first intermission.
Anthony Stolarz stopped 22 of 24 shots in the Panthers' third loss in four games.
Duchene sparks Stars' overtime win over Kraken
Matt Duchene scored twice before assisting on Thomas Harley's goal 2:16 into overtime that lifted the Dallas Stars to a 4-3 victory over the Seattle Kraken.
The Stars stretched their point streak to four games (3-0-1) behind Duchene's big night and a 35-save performance from Scott Wedgewood filling in for regular goaltender Jake Oettinger, who is week-to-week with a lower-body injury he sustained Friday against the Ottawa Senators.
Wedgewood did allow Eeli Tolvanen's goal with 21.8 seconds left in regulation that enabled the Kraken to also extend their point streak to four games (2-0-2).
Dallas built a 2-0 lead after one period on goals by Duchene and Jason Robertson, but Seattle's Tomas Tatar scored just 32 seconds into the second. Duchene struck again later in the period, though Matty Beniers scored off a Jordan Eberle feed with 6:12 left in the second to bring the Kraken within 3-2.
Beniers and Tatar also added assists for Seattle, which received 24 saves from Joey Daccord.
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