Embiid sustains scoring spree

Houston, Texas – Joel Embiid had 31 points and eight rebounds as the Philadelphia 76ers won their seventh straight game with a 111-91 victory over the Houston Rockets on Monday night.

Embiid recorded his seventh straight 30-point game. He also had six assists and made all 13 of his free throws in front of a crowd of 13,600 at Toyota Center arena in Houston.

Embiid is the second NBA player in history to score exactly 31 points in four straight games. Bob McAdoo did it for the Buffalo Braves in 1973.

Embiid entered Monday’s contest as the sixth highest scorer in the league, averaging 26.8 points per game.

Philadelphia has the longest winning streak in the Eastern Conference and the second-longest one in the league behind the Memphis Grizzlies who have won nine straight.

Elsewhere, LaMelo Ball scored 23 points as the Charlotte Hornets swept back-to-back games against the defending NBA champion Milwaukee Bucks with a 103-99 win.

Ball capped his performance with the eventual winning basket on a floater with 15 seconds left in the fourth for the Hornets, who also beat the Bucks 114-106 on Saturday.

Giannis Anteto-kounmpo finished with 26 points and 13 rebounds for the struggling Bucks, who have lost four of their last five games.

Milwaukee committed their 20th turnover after Ball’s go-ahead basket. On the next possession Miles Bridges sank a pair of game-clinching free throws.

Ball scooted to his left, shooting across his body as he was falling away to break the tie.

“That is a highly difficult shot, but he makes it look effortless,” Hornets coach James Borrego said. “Melo has that uncanny ability to be going 100 mph, get off-balance and still be poised when he raises up.

“That’s tough to do for a player who has been in the league 15 years, let alone a guy who has been in the league two years.”