Philadelphia’s Joel Embiid puts up a shot after getting past Houston’s Kelly Olynyk, left, and Kevin Porter Jr., in the third quarter Wednesday night. Michael Wyke, Associated Press, Pool

HOUSTON — Joel Embiid had 34 points in just 25 minutes and the Philadelphia 76ers extended their winning streak to six games with a 135-115 victory over the short-handed Houston Rockets on Wednesday night.

The Eastern Conference leaders were up by double figures for most of the night and their starters barely had to play in the fourth quarter to keep the NBA’s longest active winning streak going. Houston, which has the NBA’s worst record at 16-50, lost its third straight and eighth in nine games.

Philadelphia also beat Houston in the first meeting this season to win the season series for the first time since 2010-11.

The Rockets used a 7-2 run with a 3 from Kelly Olynyk to get within 12 with about six minutes left in the third quarter. But the Sixers used a 9-2 run, powered by six points from Embiid, to extend it to 97-78 two minutes later.

Embiid had 12 rebounds and made 14 of 16 free throws.

The Sixers were up by 17 after three and Dwight Howard took over at center for Embiid.

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HAWKS 135, SUNS 103: Clint Capela scored 18 points to lead seven scorers in double figures and Atlanta pulled away late to overcome Devin Booker’s 30 points and rout visiting Phoenix.

Atlanta outscored Phoenix 38-15 in the fourth period. The Suns’ first field goal of the period was a 3-pointer by Langston Galloway with 2:33 remaining.

TRAIL BLAZERS 141, CAVALIERS 105: Damian Lillard had 32 points and nine assists and Enes Kanter had 18 points and 13 rebounds, leading visiting Portland to its highest point total of the season.

Lillard scored 16 points in the first quarter and 14 points in the third. Carmelo Anthony added 16 points off the bench and Jusuf Nurkic had 15 points, 11 rebounds and four blocks.

GRIZZLIES 139, TIMBERWOLVES 135: Ja Morant had 37 points and 10 assists and visiting Memphis held on to beat Minnesota.

Desmond Bane scored 22 points off the bench, including a few key 3-pointers late, and Kyle Anderson added 20 points for the Grizzlies.

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Memphis overcame a big game from Timberwolves rookie Anthony Edwards, who tied his career high with 42 points. Karl-Anthony Towns scored 22 points but ran into foul trouble when he picked up his fifth foul late in the third quarter. D’Angelo Russell had 22 points and 14 assists in the loss.

KINGS 104, PACERS 93: Marvin Bagley III kept Sacramento’s slim playoff hopes alive with a breakthrough game by scoring a season-high 31 points and grabbing 12 rebounds to beat host Indiana.

Delon Wright added 23 points as Sacramento won its fourth straight – all on the road – and swept the two-game series with the Pacers for the first time in five years.

BUCKS 135, WIZARDS 134: Jrue Holiday scored 29 points and host Milwaukee withstood a triple-double from Russell Westbrook to edge Washington.

Westbrook had 29 points, 17 assists and 12 rebounds for his 179th career triple-double, but the Wizards still lost for just the fourth time in their last 17 games. He’s just two shy of Oscar Robertson, whose 181 career triple-doubles are the highest recorded total in NBA history.

Westbrook has a league-leading 33 triple-doubles this season, including five in his last six games. The only time Westbrook missed out on a triple-double during this six-game stretch came Saturday when he had 42 points, 10 rebounds and nine assists in a 125-124 loss to Dallas.

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JAZZ 126, SPURS 94: Jordan Clarkson scored 30 points, Bojan Bogdanovic added 24 and Utah routed visiting San Antonio.

Bogdanovic helped stake the Jazz to an early lead and Clarkson pushed it out of reach. With Atlanta’s 135-103 victory over Phoenix, the Jazz reclaimed the No. 1 spot in the NBA and Western Conference playoff race despite the All-Star backcourt of Donovan Mitchell (ankle) and Mike Conley (hamstring) missing another game.

NUGGETS 113, KNICKS 97: Nikola Jokic scored 24 of his 32 points in a dominant first quarter as Denver beat visiting New York.

Jokic finished with 12 rebounds to help lead the Nuggets to their 10 victory in 12 games. Denver, which led by as much as 31, moved back into a tie with the Los Angeles Clippers for third place in the Western Conference.

Austin Rivers scored 11 of his 25 points in the fourth quarter against his former team, Michael Porter Jr. had 17 points, and Facu Campazzo 16.

NOTES

PELICANS: Forward Brandon Ingram has been diagnosed with a left low ankle sprain and has been ruled out of Friday night’s game in Philadelphia.

Ingram was hurt in the second quarter and tried to play through the pain until leaving the game for good in the latter portion of the third quarter, having scored 13 points.

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