76ers Late Fourth Quarter Comeback Falls Short as They Drop Their Third Consecutive Game to Rockets
Houston Rockets center Alperen Sengun (28) controls the ball against Philadelphia 76ers center Adem Bona (30) during the first half of an NBA basketball game, Thursday, April 9, 2026, in Houston. (AP Photo/Karen Warren)
The 76ers finished out their road trip to Texas to face off against Kevin Durant and the red-hot Houston Rockets. With just three games left in the season, the Sixers needed a victory to stay alive in the hunt for a guaranteed playoff spot. And to make matters worse, they would be without Joel Embiid for this game and moving forward, as he had surgery earlier in the afternoon after being diagnosed with appendicitis. The Rockets, on the other hand, were coming into this game on a seven-game winning streak and also looking to improve their seeding in the playoff race.
The shorthanded Sixers couldn’t keep up at all for the first three quarters, but once the fourth quarter came around, they woke up. Down by 28 at one point, they were extremely close to mounting a hard-fought comeback. Instead, the Rockets held on, leading to a 113-102 Houston win, which essentially puts Philadelphia out of a guaranteed playoff spot. Right now, the Sixers sit in 8th, and the Toronto Raptors’ win over the Heat earlier in the night has the Sixers two games behind the sixth-seeded Atlanta Hawks, for whom Atlanta has the tiebreaker over (Atlanta swept Philadelphia in the regular season), and the Sixers would need a miracle from both teams while they have to win their last two games.
Four Sixers hit double digits in points Thursday night, with Tyrese Maxey, VJ Edgecombe, and Quentin Grimes all scoring 20 or more points. Grimes had 20, Maxey had 23, and Edgecombe had 21. Kelly Oubre Jr. also had 16. For the Rockets, Durant was the star of the show, leading all scorers with 29 points.
It was a fantastic first quarter for Oubre Jr. For the Sixers, it wasn’t. Turnovers were the defining moment to start, as they had six of them, which led to twelve Houston points. The Rockets went on two runs during the quarter, as there was pretty much no life in the offense outside of Oubre. He scored 12 out of the 26 points in the first quarter, going 2-for-2 from three and grabbing three rebounds. A 9-0 run, which was highlighted by threes from Tari Eason and Durant, and a 13-3 run off their turnovers and free throws from Eason and Amen Thompson, was able to give Houston a manageable lead heading into the second quarter, up by nine.
An 8-2 Rockets run to start the second quarter was enough for Nick Nurse to call a timeout, with the turnovers once again leading to more Houston points. After the timeout, Edgecombe was able to knock down a three-pointer and a floater for five quick points. The Rockets were still able to make buckets, while the Sixers just never managed to catch back up. That was part of the Rockets’ 9-2 run at the time. Edgecombe added another three, giving him eight points in the quarter, but a floater by Durant and a three from Reed Sheppard forced the Sixers to call another timeout. A tenth Sixer turnover extended the Rockets’ lead to 20 as they went into halftime up by 17 after 8 points late from Maxey, who finished the quarter scoring 15.
The Rockets kept their dominance rolling after halftime, with Nurse calling another timeout just two minutes in after three consecutive offensive rebouunds which was followed by a dunk from Thompson. During this quarter, it seemed like Josh Okogie was able to rebound everything on Thursday. He finished the quarter with ten rebounds after having three over the first two quarters. Eason and Durant both combined for 12 of the Rockets’ 23 points in the third; meanwhile, the Sixers had little to no offensive life, scoring just 17, with most of their points coming from Maxey and Grimes. As the buzzer rang, they were down by 23, with a late three from Edgecombe.
Grimes scored seven early points, forcing a Houston timeout. That would be the eventual start of a 16-0 Philadelphia run as Houston called two timeouts during that stretch. Grimes kept rolling, and contributions from Edgecombe, Andre Drummond, with some good defense, and Dominick Barlow had the Houston lead down to just seven points. Durant finally hit a three-pointer to wake up the Houston crowd, and another corner three from Aaron Holiday brought their lead back up to 13. Maxey came on for the last few minutes in the hope of a miraculous comeback, with him scoring an and-one and Edgecombe with a floater to bring the lead down to just five points at one point. Another Houston three had the Sixers down eight with forty seconds left, Edgecombe missed a three, whilst free throws from Thompson and a dunk by Jabari Smith ended the comeback, securing the 113-102 win.
After being held to 17 in the third quarter and down by 28 at one point, the Sixers outscored the Rockets 29-17, but it just wasn’t enough. The eleven first-half turnovers they had could’ve been a deciding factor between a Sixers win or loss. It was a nice comeback effort from the Sixers after they looked depleted all night, but now they will most likely be playing in the play-in tournament.
The Sixers will head to Indianapolis to play their penultimate game Friday night against the Pacers, with tip-off scheduled for 7:00 PM.
Andrew Glover
Andrew is in his first year covering sports for Philly Sports Reports. He is a podcaster and a digital content creator. Right now, he is in his second semester at Temple University pursuing a degree in Media Studies and Production. He has a certificate in Broadcast Journalism from the Connecticut School of Broadcasting in Cherry Hill, New Jersey.
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