Even with injuries, Sixers keep coming up clutch

If Thursday night’s win for the 76ers in Dallas felt different, it’s because how early it was settled was a relative rarity.

For once, and for a change, the 76ers didn’t need to play through crunch time.

That has been the outlier this season. Given the injury and availability headwinds faced in the first 30-some games of the season, their ability to win tight games bodes well once the rotation stabilizes.

The 76ers have played 22 games that came down to clutch time, defined for NBA stat purposes as “the final five minutes of the fourth quarter or overtime when the score is within five points.”

The Sixers are tied with two other teams for the second-most clutch games this season, but they have the edge in total clutch minutes at 101, which is second in the league by itself.

Ironically, first in both categories is Dallas at 26 games and 115 minutes, though Thursday’s 123-110 76ers win never veered into the category.

The 76ers are 13-9 in games decided in the clutch, a 59.1 winning percentage that is eighth in the league. Their 13 clutch wins is second only to East leader Detroit.

No. 1 is percentage is the Lakers, who are 10-0 in clutch games, meaning this season either LeBron James has won them close games or they’ve gotten blown out.

It’s one of the underlying trends that bodes well for the 76ers, who are 2-2 on their holiday road trip heading into Saturday’s finale at the Knicks, the entrée to a stretch of 11 of 15 games at home through the end of January.

The 76ers sit fifth in an Eastern Conference that entering Friday night had four teams knotted within one game from fourth to eighth place.

The 76ers clutch stats are more impressive when you consider the personnel.

Yeah, there’s the raw numbers of Joel Embiid having played only 15 games, Paul George at 16 and Kelly Oubre at 12. But George and Embiid returned with minutes restrictions, meaning they have fewer nights in which they’ve closed games.

They’re starting to gain continuity with both guys available at the end of games to augment Tyrese Maxey, VJ Edgecombe and, in many instances, Quentin Grimes.

Edgecombe scored 13 points in the fourth quarter Tuesday at Memphis, then hit the overtime game-winner with 1.7 seconds left. Grimes shook off a protracted shooting slump with 11 points in the fourth quarter against Dallas, his former team.

Maxey, Grimes and Edgecombe are second, fourth and fifth, respectively, in clutch minutes played this season. Edgecombe is shooting 60.7 percent in clutch situations, including 8-for-13 from 3-point range (61.5). Maxey is averaging 42.3 points per 100 possessions in crunch time; his season average per 100 is 37.4.

The trends fit the 76ers’ bizarre second-half splits.

They remain the worst third-quarter team in the NBA, though they’re closing the gap. Their average of 25.8 ppg in third quarters is last in the league, as is their point differential of minus-5.2.

Closest is Indiana at minus-3.4; Oklahoma City has the league’s best third-quarter point differential at plus-5.2.

But the 76ers are the third-best team in the NBA in fourth-quarter point differential at an average of plus-2.2. A more stable rotation that includes more late minutes for George and Embiid can only help that.

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NOTES >> Embiid (right knee management) is listed as probable for the 76ers’ game at Madison Square Garden on Saturday night. Embiid has played in two straight games and four of five. The only miss in that stretch was Dec. 28 at Oklahoma City, with a right ankle sprain that is now off his injury listing. That leaves Oubre (knee) and Trendon Watford (adductor) as the only players out. Oubre will miss his 19th game. Watford is set to miss his 16th in a row.