LOS ANGELES — Tobias Harris finished with 34 points to lift the shorthanded Philadelphia 76ers over the visiting New York Knicks 115-106 on Thursday.

Al Horford had 15 points and nine assists and Shake Milton scored 19 points as the Sixers improved to a league-best 28-2 at home.

"Just taking the opportunities that were presented," said Harris, who added seven rebounds and seven assists. "We had a good pop to our offense and I was able to get in-the-flow plays."

Milton hit all five of his three-point attempts, while Horford hit all four from beyond the arc for the Sixers, who played without injured all-stars Joel Embiid (shoulder) and Ben Simmons (back).

Embiid has been diagnosed with a strained left shoulder and will be evaluated again in the week.

"It's a painfully obvious bind," coach Brett Brown said. "We're missing two All-Stars. You yank that from the team and it's painful."

The Sixers swept the four-game season series from the Knicks.

Julius Randle paced the Knicks with 30 points and 10 rebounds. Maurice Harkless scored 17 points, RJ Barrett added 15 and Elfrid Payton had 18 points and 12 assists for New York, who have lost six in a row.

Josh Richardson appeared to make a three-pointer at the end of the third quarter, but the officials ruled he didn't get the shot off before the buzzer so the score remained 87-79.

Horford hit a pair of threes early in the fourth for a 100-85 Sixers advantage with 8:34 to go.

The Knicks battled back to within 107-102 with just over two minutes left after Randle hit a free throw. Harris answered with a key three-pointer, and the lead moved back to eight.

Elsewhere, Anthony Davis scored 23 points and Rajon Rondo had 12 as the Los Angeles Lakers routed the hapless Golden State Warriors 116-86.

The Lakers won their seventh straight game despite giving LeBron James the night off against the worst team in the NBA.

Rookie Eric Paschall had 23 points for Golden State, who lost Draymond Green to a two-technical-foul ejection in the second quarter.

Warriors were also without Andrew Wiggins, who has a back problem.

The loss was Golden State's eighth straight overall and eighth in a row at home.

Also, Domantas Sabonis overcame early foul trouble to collect 20 points and 11 rebounds as the Indiana Pacers registered a 106-100 victory over the Portland Trail Blazers in Indianapolis.

NBA fines Timberwolves $25K

for resting guard Russell

The Minnesota Timberwolves were fined $25,000 by the NBA on Thursday for violating the league's policy on resting players for benching guard D'Angelo Russell at Denver on Sunday.

The 24-year-old guard, who came to the T-Wolves from Golden State in a trade deal for Andrew Wiggins on Feb. 6, was considered a healthy player under the NBA's player resting policy.

Russell, in his fifth NBA campaign after being selected with the second pick of the 2015 NBA Draft by the Los Angeles Lakers, spent two seasons in LA and two more with Brooklyn before joining Golden State ahead of this season.

The NBA cracked down on teams resting players from certain games, notably road contests or high-profile matchups, with a rule passed ahead of the 2017-18 campaign.

Last year, the league cracked down on teams trying to use the term "load management" to effectively sit players for rest as needed, negating the move except in unusual situations.

Minnesota lost 128-116 at Denver on Sunday in the middle game of three contests in four days, the T-Wolves also falling 127-117 at home to Boston last Friday and 139-123 at Dallas on Monday.

Russell had 18 points, 13 assists and six rebounds in 34 minutes against Boston, missed the game two days later against the Nuggets then came back the following night to score 29 points in 31 minutes on the floor against the Mavericks.

Russell is averaging 23.7 points, 6.5 assists and 3.7 rebounds a game this season. he is averaging just over 25 points a game in five games with Minnesota, which won for the first time with him in the lineup 129-126 on Wednesday at Miami.

At 17-40, the Timberwolves have the second-worst record in the Western Conference, ahead of only Golden State. — AFP