The Philadelphia 76ers cruised in their first game without injured superstar Joel Embiid as Tobias Harris highlighted the team's collective effort.
NBA MVP candidate Embiid will spend at least two weeks on the sidelines due to a left knee bone bruise.
The 76ers were sweating on Embiid's fitness after he appeared to hyperextend his knee in a scary fall following a dunk in the third quarter of Friday's 127-101 rout of the Washington Wizards.
But Embiid escaped major damage and the Eastern Conference-leading 76ers crushed the San Antonio Spurs 134-99 in his absence on Sunday.
"We need everybody," Harris – who led the 76ers with 23 points, nine rebounds, seven assists and two steals – said post-game. "Everybody has to stay ready and be ready to step up night after night.
"With Joel being out for some time, it's on us to find different things and make our chemistry even stronger until he comes back.
"We know how important he is and the impact he brings to the game night in, night out with the level he has been playing at. We want to be able to maintain that type of intensity.
"It's a culture and attitude we've been building day after day, a winning-type attitude; next guy up mentality. It's been huge for us all year long, especially tonight and the games without guys."
Goodnight, Sixers Twitter. pic.twitter.com/hWgKZKm6UX
— Philadelphia 76ers (@sixers) March 15, 2021
Embiid, who posted 23 points before exiting against Washington, is averaging a career-high 29.9 points per game – second only to Wizards star Bradley Beal (32.1) in the NBA.
Philadelphia's Embiid is fourth in the league points, assists and rebounds per game (44.6), behind Denver Nuggets star Nikola Jokic (46.8), reigning MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo (46.7) of the Milwaukee Bucks and Dallas Mavericks guard Luka Doncic (45.8).
The 26-year-old Embiid has also been averaging career highs in field-goal percentage (52.5) and three-point percentage (42.2).
"I was happy with the news," said 76ers head coach Doc Rivers. "It looked bad, but, obviously, we never know and that's what I was saying that night. We had to wait and see and it turned out in our favour, in a lot of ways."
Rivers added: "He's great. I don't think anybody's in great spirits, but he was happy that it wasn't as bad as a lot of people thought it was probably, including himself in that so he was in a pretty good place.
"Now that he knows all it takes is rehab, he has a game plan, we have a game plan, and we're moving forward with it."