PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Joel Embiid had 34 points and nine assists after missing a game because of a sinus fracture, helping the Philadelphia 76ers beat the Charlotte Hornets 108-98 on Friday night.
Wearing a protective “ Phantom of the Opera ” mask, Embiid was introduced to a roaring ovation.
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Philadelphia 76ers' Guerschon Yabusele, left, goes up for a shot against Charlotte Hornets' Nick Richards during the first half of an NBA basketball game, Friday, Dec. 20, 2024, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)
Philadelphia 76ers' Paul George (8) reaches for a rebound against Charlotte Hornets' Nick Richards (4) during the first half of an NBA basketball game, Friday, Dec. 20, 2024, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)
Charlotte Hornets' Cody Martin goes up for a dunk during the first half of an NBA basketball game against the Philadelphia 76ers, Friday, Dec. 20, 2024, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)
Philadelphia 76ers' Kelly Oubre Jr. tumbles after being fouled during the first half of an NBA basketball game against the Charlotte Hornets, Friday, Dec. 20, 2024, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)
Philadelphia 76ers' Guerschon Yabusele, left, and Charlotte Hornets' Miles Bridges reach for a loose ball during the first half of an NBA basketball game, Friday, Dec. 20, 2024, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)
Charlotte Hornets' Nick Richards, left, reaches for a rebound over Philadelphia 76ers' KJ Martin during the first half of an NBA basketball game, Friday, Dec. 20, 2024, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)
Charlotte Hornets' Miles Bridges, left, tries to get away from Philadelphia 76ers' KJ Martin during the first half of an NBA basketball game, Friday, Dec. 20, 2024, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)
Philadelphia 76ers' Joel Embiid walks the court during the first half of an NBA basketball game against the Charlotte Hornets, Friday, Dec. 20, 2024, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)
Philadelphia 76ers' Joel Embiid, left, tries to pass against Charlotte Hornets' Nick Richards during the first half of an NBA basketball game, Friday, Dec. 20, 2024, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)
Philadelphia 76ers' Joel Embiid reacts after being fouled during the first half of an NBA basketball game against the Charlotte Hornets, Friday, Dec. 20, 2024, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)
Embiid scored 22 points in the first three quarters to lead the 76ers to their fourth win in five games. Philadelphia is still well under .500 at 9-16 but a recent hot streak has it at least within striking distance of a play-in tournament berth.
Embiid has been ravaged by injuries this season and has only played in seven games, mostly due to knee soreness.
Vasilije Micic led the Hornets with 20 points. They lost their fourth straight game and have lost for the 12th time in 13 games.
Charlotte: LaMelo Ball sat out as the Hornets manage his injured left calf. The Hornets are being cautious with how they handle Ball, who had 34 points and 13 assists a night earlier in a loss at Washington.
76ers: Tyrese Maxey scored 23 points and Paul George had five points and 10 rebounds. The heralded Big Three of All-Stars Embiid, Maxey and George started a game together for only the fourth time this season.
The 76ers went wild in the first quarter. Maxey hit four 3s and the 76ers shot 56% overall from the floor to race to an 18-point lead.
Kelly Oubre Jr. scored 22 points for Philadelphia. He combined with Maxey to hit eight of the 76ers' 12 3-pointers.
Charlotte hosts Houston on Monday, while the 76ers play Saturday at Cleveland.
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Philadelphia 76ers' Guerschon Yabusele, left, goes up for a shot against Charlotte Hornets' Nick Richards during the first half of an NBA basketball game, Friday, Dec. 20, 2024, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)
Philadelphia 76ers' Paul George (8) reaches for a rebound against Charlotte Hornets' Nick Richards (4) during the first half of an NBA basketball game, Friday, Dec. 20, 2024, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)
Charlotte Hornets' Cody Martin goes up for a dunk during the first half of an NBA basketball game against the Philadelphia 76ers, Friday, Dec. 20, 2024, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)
Philadelphia 76ers' Kelly Oubre Jr. tumbles after being fouled during the first half of an NBA basketball game against the Charlotte Hornets, Friday, Dec. 20, 2024, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)
Philadelphia 76ers' Guerschon Yabusele, left, and Charlotte Hornets' Miles Bridges reach for a loose ball during the first half of an NBA basketball game, Friday, Dec. 20, 2024, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)
Charlotte Hornets' Nick Richards, left, reaches for a rebound over Philadelphia 76ers' KJ Martin during the first half of an NBA basketball game, Friday, Dec. 20, 2024, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)
Charlotte Hornets' Miles Bridges, left, tries to get away from Philadelphia 76ers' KJ Martin during the first half of an NBA basketball game, Friday, Dec. 20, 2024, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)
Philadelphia 76ers' Joel Embiid walks the court during the first half of an NBA basketball game against the Charlotte Hornets, Friday, Dec. 20, 2024, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)
Philadelphia 76ers' Joel Embiid, left, tries to pass against Charlotte Hornets' Nick Richards during the first half of an NBA basketball game, Friday, Dec. 20, 2024, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)
Philadelphia 76ers' Joel Embiid reacts after being fouled during the first half of an NBA basketball game against the Charlotte Hornets, Friday, Dec. 20, 2024, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)
MAGDEBURG, Germany (AP) — A car plowed into a busy outdoor Christmas market in the eastern German city of Magdeburg on Friday, killing at least two people and injuring at least 60 others in what authorities called a deliberate attack.
The driver was arrested at the scene shortly after the car barreled into the market at around 7 p.m., when it was teeming with holiday shoppers looking forward to the weekend.
Verified bystander footage distributed by the German news agency dpa showed the suspect’s arrest on a walkway in the middle of the road. A nearby police officer pointing a handgun at the man shouted at him as he lay prone. Other officers soon arrived to take the man into custody.
The two people confirmed dead were an adult and a toddler, but officials said additional deaths couldn't be ruled out because 15 people had been seriously injured.
The violence shocked the city, bringing its mayor to the verge of tears and marring a festive event that's part of a centuries-old German tradition. It also prompted several other German towns to cancel their weekend Christmas markets as a precaution and out of solidarity with Magdeburg's loss.
The suspect is a 50-year-old Saudi doctor who moved to Germany in 2006, Tamara Zieschang, the interior minister for the state of Saxony-Anhalt, said at a news conference. He has been practicing medicine in Bernburg, about 40 kilometers (25 miles) south of Magdeburg, she said.
“As things stand, he is a lone perpetrator, so that as far as we know there is no further danger to the city," Saxony-Anhalt's governor, Reiner Haseloff, told reporters. "Every human life that has fallen victim to this attack is a terrible tragedy and one human life too many."
The violence occurred in Magdeburg, a city of about 240,000 people west of Berlin that serves as Saxony-Anhalt’s capital. Friday's attack came eight years after an Islamic extremist drove a truck into crowded Christmas market in Berlin, killing 13 people and injuring many others. The attacker was killed days later in a shootout in Italy.
Christmas markets are a huge part of German culture as an annual holiday tradition cherished since the Middle Ages and successfully exported to much of the Western world. In Berlin alone, more than 100 markets opened late last month and brought the smells of mulled wine, roasted almonds and bratwurst to the capital. Other markets abound across the country.
German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said late last month that there were no concrete indications of a danger to Christmas markets this year, but that it was wise to be vigilant.
Hours after Friday's tragedy, the wail of sirens clashed with the market’s festive ornaments, stars and leafy garlands.
Magdeburg resident Dorin Steffen told dpa that she was at a concert in a nearby church when she heard the sirens. The cacophony was so loud “you had to assume that something terrible had happened.”
She called the attack “a dark day” for the city.
“We are shaking,” Steffen said. “Full of sympathy for the relatives, also in the hope that nothing has happened to our relatives, friends and acquaintances.”
The attack reverberated far beyond Magdeburg, with Haseloff calling it a catastrophe for the city, state and country. He said flags would be lowered to half-staff in Saxony-Anhalt and that the federal government planned to do the same.
“It is really one of the worst things one can imagine, particularly in connection with what a Christmas market should bring," the governor said.
German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier said the attack interrupted the anticipation of a peaceful Christmas.
Chancellor OIaf Scholz posted on X: “My thoughts are with the victims and their relatives. We stand beside them and beside the people of Magdeburg.”
NATO’s secretary-general, the European Commission’s president and Vice President-elect JD Vance also expressed their condolences on X.
“Our prayers go to the people affected by this terrible attack on a Christmas market in Germany. What a ghastly attack so close to Christmas,” Vance wrote.
Magdeburg Mayor Simone Borris, who was on the verge of tears, said officials plan to arrange a memorial at the city’s cathedral on Saturday.
After a soccer match Friday evening between Bayern Munich and Leipzig, Bayern CEO Jan-Christian Dreesen asked fans at the club’s stadium to observe a minute of silence.
Moulson reported from Berlin.
Security guards stand in front of a cordoned-off Christmas Market after a car crashed into a crowd of people, in Magdeburg, Germany, Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
Emergency services work in a cordoned-off area near a Christmas Market, after a car drove into a crowd in Magdeburg, Germany, Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
Two firefighters walk through a cordoned-off area near a Christmas Market, after a car drove into a crowd in Magdeburg, Germany, Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
A firefighter walks through a cordoned-off area near a Christmas Market, after a car drove into a crowd in Magdeburg, Germany, Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
Emergency services work in a cordoned-off area near a Christmas Market, after a car drove into a crowd in Magdeburg, Germany, Friday, Dec. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
Emergency services work in a cordoned-off area near a Christmas Market, after a car drove into a crowd in Magdeburg, Germany, Friday, Dec. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
Reiner Haseloff, Minister President of Saxony-Anhalt, center, is flanked by Tamara Zieschang, Minister of the Interior and Sport of Saxony-Anhalt, left, and Simone Borris, Mayor of the City of Magdeburg, at a press conference after a car plowed into a busy outdoor Christmas market in Magdeburg, Germany Friday, Dec. 20, 2024. (Hendrik Schmidt/dpa via AP)
Emergency services work in a cordoned-off area near a Christmas Market, after a car drove into a crowd in Magdeburg, Germany, Friday, Dec. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
Emergency services work in a cordoned-off area near a Christmas Market, after a car drove into a crowd in Magdeburg, Germany, Friday, Dec. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
Emergency services work in a cordoned-off area near a Christmas Market, after a car drove into a crowd in Magdeburg, Germany, Friday, Dec. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
Emergency services work in a cordoned-off area near a Christmas Market, after a car drove into a crowd in Magdeburg, Germany, Friday, Dec. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
A police officer guards at a cordoned-off area near a Christmas Market after an incident in Magdeburg, Germany, Friday, Dec. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
A police officer guards at a cordoned-off area near a Christmas Market after an incident in Magdeburg, Germany, Friday, Dec. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
A police officer guards at a cordoned-off area near a Christmas Market after an incident in Magdeburg, Germany, Friday, Dec. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
A police officer guards at a blocked road near a Christmas Market, after an incident in Magdeburg, Germany, Friday, Dec. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
A police officer guards at a blocked road near a Christmas market after an incident in Magdeburg, Germany, Friday, Dec. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
Police officers guard at a cordoned-off area near a Christmas Market after an incident in Magdeburg, Germany, Friday, Dec. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
Police officers guard at a blocked road near a Christmas market after an incident in Magdeburg, Germany, Friday, Dec. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
Emergency services work in a cordoned-off area near a Christmas Market, after an incident in Magdeburg, Germany, Friday, Dec. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
A police officer speaks with a man at a cordoned-off area near a Christmas Market after an incident in Magdeburg, Germany, Friday, Dec. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
Special police forces attend an incident at the Christmas market in Magdeburg, Germany, Friday Dec. 20, 2024. (Heiko Rebsch/dpa via AP)
Reiner Haseloff (M, CDU), Minister President of Saxony-Anhalt, makes a statement after an incident at the Christmas market in Magdeburg, Germany, Friday Dec. 20, 2024. (Heiko Rebsch/dpa via AP)
Reiner Haseloff (M, CDU), Minister President of Saxony-Anhalt, makes a statement after an incident at the Christmas market in Magdeburg, Germany, Friday Dec. 20, 2024. (Heiko Rebsch/dpa via AP)
A policeman is seen at the Christmas market where an incident happened in Magdeburg, Germany, Friday Dec. 20, 2024. (Heiko Rebsch/dpa via AP)
Emergency services attend an incident at the Christmas market in Magdeburg, Germany, Friday Dec. 20, 2024. (Heiko Rebsch/dpa via AP)
In this screen grab image from video, special police forces attend an incident at the Christmas market in Magdeburg, Germany, Friday Dec. 20, 2024. (Thomas Schulz/dpa via AP)
A view of the cordoned-off Christmas market after an incident in Magdeburg, Germany, Friday Dec. 20, 2024. (Heiko Rebsch/dpa via AP)
Emergency services attend an incident at the Christmas market in Magdeburg, Germany, Friday Dec. 20, 2024. (Heiko Rebsch/dpa via AP)
In this screen grab image from video, emergency services attend an incident at the Christmas market in Magdeburg, Germany, Friday Dec. 20, 2024. (Thomas Schulz/dpa via AP)
Emergency services attend an incident at the Christmas market in Magdeburg, Germany, Friday Dec. 20, 2024. (Heiko Rebsch/dpa via AP)
Emergency services attend an incident at the Christmas market in Magdeburg, Germany, Friday Dec. 20, 2024. (Heiko Rebsch/dpa via AP)
Emergency services attend an incident at the Christmas market in Magdeburg, Germany, Friday Dec. 20, 2024. (Heiko Rebsch/dpa via AP)
Emergency services attend an incident at the Christmas market in Magdeburg, Germany, Friday Dec. 20, 2024. (Dörthe Hein/dpa via AP)
Emergency services attend an incident at the Christmas market in Magdeburg, Germany, Friday Dec. 20, 2024. (Dörthe Hein/dpa via AP)
Emergency services attend an incident at the Christmas market in Magdeburg, Germany, Friday Dec. 20, 2024. (Dörthe Hein/dpa via AP)
