Sixers edge Blazers with buzzer-beating trey

LOS ANGELES, United States — Furkan Korkmaz drained a three pointer with less than a second on the clock as the Philadelphia 76ers rallied late to edge Portland 129-128 and remain the only unbeaten team in the new NBA season.

The 76ers are the last undefeated team in the league, going 5-0 to start the season for the first time since 2000-01.

Anfernee Simons made a corner three-pointer with two seconds left to put the Trail Blazers in front but the Sixers got the ball back after a timeout. That set the stage for Korkmaz’s heroics as the Turkish shooting guard nailed a falling-down, 24-footer for the win.

“I didn’t know how to feel or how to act. It was the biggest shot of my career,” he said. “We were working on that in practice. I knew that if I was open I would take the shot”.

The 76ers were playing without star Joel Embiid who was serving the first game of a two-game ban for fighting.

The Blazers led by as many as 21 points in the third quarter but the Sixers closed the gap to 103-100 with just over 10 minutes left. Damian Lillard’s three-pointer with five minutes to go put Portland up 121-113 but the Sixers wouldn’t go away.

Al Horford finished with 25 points and Tobias Harris added 23. Ben Simmons had 18 points and 11 rebounds for Philadelphia.

Lillard had 33 points, including eight of Portland’s 19 three pointers.

p: wjg