Joel Embiid scored 29 of his season-high 48 points in the third quarter and the Philadelphia 76ers rolled to their fifth straight victory, 146-128 over the Washington Wizards on Monday night.

Philadelphia is unbeaten after a one-point loss at Milwaukee in its opener.

“It was good to get another win and get everyone out on the court,” Philadelphia coach Nick Nurse said. “Now, we’ll just keep on going and get back out on the court tomorrow.”

In the third quarter, Embiid was 10 for 10 from the floor and 9 for 9 from the foul to help the 76ers extend their lead to 120-98. His 29-point showing in that quarter was the most scored by a 76ers player in a single quarter since at least 1996-97 and surpassed Zach LaVine’s mark (25 points) for the most points in a quarter (which came earlier this season).

“That’s pretty efficient,” Nurse deadpanned.

Embiid has scored 40 or more points 40 times in the regular season. He also had 11 rebounds and six assists while sitting out the fourth quarter for the second straight game.

“It was just taking advantage of what was available,” Embiid said. “We played a team. It looks like a lot of points, but a lot of it came just in the flow of the offense.”

The performance marked Embiid’s 40th career 40-point game with the 76ers. He and former Sixers legend and Hall of Famer Allen Iverson are the only players in team history with 40 career 40-point games (Iverson had 76 in his Philadelphia career). Additionally, he is the first player in the shot clock era (since 1954-55) to have 45 points, 10 rebounds and five assists while being on the court less than 31 minutes.

he’s the MVP for a reason. pic.twitter.com/u9C41jRPPk

— Philadelphia 76ers (@sixers) November 7, 2023

“He’s good at basketball,” said point guard Tyrese Maxey, who scored 22 points, had a career-high 11 assists and didn’t record a turnover. “I tell people that he’s ready to go now. He’s four or five games in and he’s finding his rhythm. He’s hitting his (mid-range jumpers)and he’s being aggressive.”

Tobias Harris had 18 and DeAnthony Melton a season-high 14 for the Sixers. Nicolas Baton, who was picked up as one of the pieces in the trade that sent James Harden to the Los Angeles Clippers, scored 11 points on 4-for-5 shooting in his Sixers debut.

“I like to think that we’ve played aggressively and we’re looking for opportunities early when we get the ball,” Nurse said.

Kyle Kuzma scored 28 points for Washington, and Jordan Poole had 23. The Wizards have lost four straight to fall to 1-5.

“We tried to show different coverages to a really good player and he finds ways to exploit them,” Wizards coach Wes Unseld Jr. said.

Washington turned the ball over 19 times, many of which turned into transition points against an offense that moved quickly up the floor most of the night.

“I thought that our effort was good, but I thought that we had a lot of coverage mistakes,” Unseld said. “And against a really good team, they are going to make you pay for it.”

Philadelphia was 51 for 91 from the floor and 32 of 36 from the foul line.

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.