PHILADELPHIA -- The Philadelphia 76ers were without center Joel Embiid, their leading scorer and rebounder, but Nerlens Noel did a reasonable impersonation on Tuesday night.

Noel, making his first start of the season while Embiid rested his bruised left knee, collected a season-high 19 points, eight rebounds and three blocked shots as the Sixers rallied from a 19-point third-quarter deficit to beat the Los Angeles Clippers 121-110.

Backup forward Richaun Holmes matched his career high of 18 points for Philadelphia, which extended its home winning streak to six games.

Dario Saric added 16 points and Robert Covington had 14 for the Sixers, who were also without reserve center Jahlil Okafor because of a sore right knee.

Philadelphia also won for the fourth time in five games, the seventh time in nine and the ninth time in 12.

"This reinforces and validates how we want to grow the program," coach Brett Brown said. "It's a team."

Noel missed the first 23 games this season following minor knee surgery, and Tuesday's game was just his 17th. He played over 29 minutes, his longest outing to date, and made 8 of 10 shots from the floor.

"This is obviously a different type of opportunity," he said. "I just want to go out there and show my abilities and help this game any way possible."

In all, the Sixers outscored the Clippers 62-32 after Los Angeles established a 78-59 lead two minutes into the third quarter.

The Sixers shot 50 percent from the floor, made 21 of 22 free throws and committed a season-low six turnovers, while forcing 19.

Holmes, a second-year forward, appeared in his 23rd game of the season, and just his second since Dec. 14. While talented, he has often been lost in the frontcourt shuffle. He has also been sent to the NBA Development League on three occasions.

"Everybody wants to play on the big stage," said Holmes, who scored 14 of his 18 points in the first half. "Everybody wants to play here. The way I look at things, you look at everything as an opportunity. Going down there is an opportunity to get better, get to play and then when I come back here, it's an opportunity to show what I can do, show what I've worked on."

Jamal Crawford scored 27 points and J.J. Redick added 22 for the Clippers, who were without coach Doc Rivers because of illness.

Austin Rivers had 20 points for Los Angeles. Forward Blake Griffin, who returned after missing the previous 18 games following arthroscopic knee surgery, contributed 12 points, 11 rebounds and five assists.

DeAndre Jordan had 10 points and 20 rebounds, but was 4 of 12 at the foul line. Los Angeles was 26 of 41 as a team.

The Clippers missed 18 of their last 26 shots from the floor, and while they made a season-high 18 3-pointers in 34 attempts, they were 12-of-19 in the first half.

"I thought we got off to a great start in the third quarter," assistant coach Mike Woodson said, "and all hell broke loose."

Particularly disappointing to Woodson was the Clippers' defensive effort. The Sixers made 12 of 19 shots while outscoring the Clippers 32-21 in the fourth quarter.

"I know we're better than that," he said. "Normally when we have a big lead like that, we close. It starts on the defensive end. We could not get stops on the defensive end, and that's not like us."

Crawford's jumper 16 seconds into the fourth quarter snapped an 89-89 tie and gave the Clippers their last lead of the game, but Covington answered with a 3-pointer.

The Sixers pushed their lead to 113-100 on a layup by T.J. McConnell with 3:19 remaining.

The Sixers moved to a 27-23 lead late in the first quarter behind 11 points from Holmes, but a 9-0 run bridging the first and second periods gave the Clippers the lead.

Los Angeles led by as many as 11 in the second quarter, as Crawford poured in 11 of his 16 first-half points, including three 3-pointers.

By halftime the Clippers were up 68-59 on the strength of their 12-for-19 3-point shooting. Crawford was 4-of-6 from the arc. Redick went 3-of-5 en route to a 15-point half, while Rivers was 3-of-4 while scoring 13.

Redick and Rivers each made a 3-pointer as Los Angeles scored the first 10 points of the third quarter to extend its lead to 78-59, but Philadelphia responded with a 28-8 rush to go up 87-86 with 36.3 seconds left in the period.

Saric contributed seven straight Sixers points in one stretch, and nine in all during the run, and the Clippers managed one field goal in a 9:19 span.

After Sergio Rodriguez gave the Sixers that 87-86 lead with two free throws, Crawford answered with a 3-pointer. Saric's two free throws knotted the score at 89-all heading into the fourth quarter.

NOTES: Sixers F Ben Simmons, who has been out all season with a broken right foot, played one-on-one on Sunday at about "80 percent" speed, according to coach Brett Brown. Brown said there is no timetable for Simmons to begin playing four-on-four or five-on-five, and a team spokesman said there is no timetable for his return. ... Clippers F Luc Mbah a Moute marvels at the strides Sixers C Joel Embiid has made since the former first saw the latter in a gym in their homeland of Cameroon in 2010. "Obviously when I saw him he was still very raw, 'til now," he said. "All the compliments to him, to put in the work. But he had the base for everything." ... Embiid will not play Wednesday, when the Sixers visit Milwaukee.=