The Philadelphia 76ers defeated the Houston Rockets, 135-115, at Toyota Center on Wednesday night.

The 76ers (45-21) looked to build off their win over the Bulls on Monday and had little trouble to get past a Rockets (16-50) team that has different goals compared to Philadelphia's one. The Sixers didn't have problems establishing control of the game early on and quickly jumped out to a 39-30 lead following the first quarter, and while the rest of the game was certainly tighter, the Sixers didn't lose the grip of the contest the rest of the way. Philadelphia won the second quarter by a three-point margin (36-33) and further enhanced that lead after a 33-28 score in the first 12 minutes of the second half. The Rockets didn't have a chance at attempting a comeback in the fourth and Philadelphia won the final quarter by three points once again (27-24), running away with the contest with absolute ease.

Joel Embiid had another MVP-quality performance and carried the Sixers with 34 points and 12 rebounds while adding two assists and a block as well. Tobias Harris had 15 points with three assists and two rebounds, while Ben Simmons chipped in with 10 points, three boards and three dimes. Seth Curry finished with 11 points and three rebounds, and Shake Milton had 19 points off the bench. Dwight Howard delivered 10 points with eight boards.

The Rockets only used seven players and four of them finished with at least 20 points. Kelly Olynyk led the way and came close to a triple-double after finishing with 27 points, 11 rebounds and eight assists, while Kenyon Martin Jr. chipped in with 23 points and 10 rebounds. Anthony Lamb had 22 points and Armoni Brooks added 20 points.