Joel Embiid scored 21 points, Ben Simmons returned from a four-game absence to add 12 and the host Philadelphia 76ers routed the struggling Oklahoma City Thunder 121-90 on Monday.

Tobias Harris contributed 11, Furkan Korkmaz and Paul Reed added 10 each, and Dwight Howard swept 11 rebounds for the Sixers (40-21), who compiled 22 steals and snapped a season-high four-game losing streak. Starter Danny Green was held out with a sore hip. Simmons returned from an illness.

It is the fastest the Sixers have reached 40 wins since 2001 when they advanced to the NBA Finals.

The Thunder (20-41) tied a franchise mark set in 2008 with their 14th consecutive loss.

Ty Jerome led the Thunder with 22 points while Darius Bazley added 14, Moses Brown had 11 and Theo Maledon 10.

After the Thunder closed within 48-39, Embiid hit a runner in the lane and a 3-pointer, Shake Milton added a jumper and the Sixers extended their lead to 16 with 4:39 left in the second quarter.

Simmons threw down a dunk with 1.0 second remaining and the Sixers went into the locker room with a 60-45 lead. Embiid led the Sixers with 15.

Jerome paced the Thunder with 12 off the bench, including a pair of 3-pointers.

The Sixers quickly opened the third with a trey from Embiid and a driving layup from Harris for a 65-45 advantage.

The young Thunder struggled to put together a run from there and trailed 82-58 after another trey from Jerome with 4:09 to go in the third.

Philadelphia led 93-66 at the end of the third and opened the fourth with all reserves.

Oklahoma City continued to be hurt by turnovers and committed their season-high 25th less than two minutes into the fourth. They finished with 30.

Tyrese Maxey (11 points) dropped in a 3-pointer with 9:28 left to give the Sixers a 100-68 advantage.

The Thunder soon went through another tough three-and-a-half stretch without a basket and fell behind 111-74 with 5:17 remaining.

--Field Level Media