Tyrese Maxey scored a career-high 51 points as the Philadelphia 76ers ended a four-game losing streak with a 127-124 win over the Utah Jazz.
Announced as an NBA All-Star reserve earlier on Thursday, the 23-year-old Maxey starred for the 76ers, who were without Joel Embiid in Salt Lake City.
Embiid missed the game after suffering a left knee injury in Tuesday’s defeat by the Golden State Warriors.
Tobias Harris added 28 points for the 76ers and Kelly Oubre Jr scored 16.
Lauri Markkanen responded with 28 points for the Jazz, who led 120-117 in the closing stages, but Utah could not avoid a third consecutive defeat and they have now lost six of their past eight games.
Embiid, last season’s Most Valuable Player in the NBA, will be sidelined indefinitely following the a lateral meniscus injury he sustained when Warriors forward Jonathan Kuminga fell on him.
But in his absence Maxey, who missed the previous three games with a left hamstring injury, made 17 of 27 field goals, seven three-pointers, and went 10-for-11 from the free-throw line – including two in the final 4.1 seconds.
Elsewhere, Austin Reaves scored a season-high 32 points to help the Los Angeles Lakers beat the Boston Celtics 114-105.
Donovan Mitchell scored 25 points as the Cleveland Cavaliers earned a fourth straight win by beating the Memphis Grizzlies 108-101.
Jalen Brunson, named an Eastern Conference All-Star earlier in the day, scored 11 of his 40 points in the final seven minutes as the New York Knicks beat the Indiana Pacers 109-105 to clinch a ninth straight victory.
