Instant Replay: Sixers 120, Wizards 112

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BOX SCORE

No Joel Embiid. No Nerlens Noel. No Ersan Ilyasova.

In the Sixers’ first game after the trade deadline and announcing Embiid will be out until March, the remaining players pulled together for a grind-it-out win over the Wizards. 

The production in Friday's 120-112 victory went down the roster from the starters to the last man off the bench (in this case, they went nine deep). 

Dario Saric and Robert Covington set the tone in the first half. The rest of the team quickly followed suit in the second, including a standout performance by Richaun Holmes with the first double-double of his career. 

The Sixers’ collective effort fended off 40 points from Bradley Beal along the way.

The Sixers have given up leads to the Wizards before and they were tested again in the final minute. The Sixers were up by seven with 45 seconds remaining. After Covington was whistled for a technical foul and T.J. McConnell fouled John Wall, the lead shrunk to just four points with 22.9 seconds to go. The Sixers sealed the game with three final free throws. 

The Wizards had been 9-1 over their last 10 games. The Sixers snapped the Wizards' four-game winning streak.

Inside the box score
• Holmes maximized his playing time after the Noel trade to post 12 points, 10 rebounds and five blocks off the bench.

• Saric recorded a 20-point, 11-rebound double-double with four assists in 33 minutes.

• Covington drained five treys in his 25-point, 11-rebound double-double over 39 minutes.

• Gerald Henderson added 20 points in the starting lineup. 

• Beal’s monster scoring included shooting 15 for 25 from the field, 2 for 8 from three and 8 for 10 from the line.

• Wall scored 29 points with 14 assists, eight rebounds and six turnovers.

• Marcin Gortat recorded his seventh straight double-double against the Sixers going back to February of last season.

Anderson, Splitter on the bench
Newly-acquired Justin Anderson and Tiago Splitter watched their first game as Sixers from the bench. Splitter has not played yet this season because of injuries. Anderson was available but did not play. Anderson stepped into the recently-waived Chasson Randle’s role of standing up in applause after the Sixers scored. 

No Noel is new for Brown
Brett Brown coached a game without Noel on the roster for the first time in his career as Sixers head coach. Noel had been the final player left from Brown’s inaugural season before he was traded to the Mavericks on Thursday. 

"I'm happy for him in my heart of hearts," Brown said (see story).

Lights out
The lights inside the Wells Fargo Center briefly went out during the second half. Many jokes followed on social media, including this one: 

Up next
The Sixers will travel to New York to play the Kristaps Porzingis-less Knicks in a back-to-back series Saturday night. On Monday, the Sixers will host the Warriors. 

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