PHILADELPHIA — Seven games in a row now, the Philadelphia 76ers have come out on top. Their most recent victory against the LA Clippers was one of the more gutsy wins of the season. The Sixers clawed back from a 20-point deficit as Joel Embiid and James Harden shined in the 119-104 win.

A halftime, it seemed like the Sixers had just lost some steam as they played the best opponent of their seven-game homestand. They flipped the script in the second half, forcing the Clippers to shoot only 40 percent from the field after they shot 61 percent in the first half. Improvement in that end helped ignite the offense with some fastbreak chances.

The Sixers defense has climbed to second in the league behind only the Cleveland Cavaliers. It's what they want to be the best at and are working toward. Although they aren't where they want to be, the results are still good.

“I feel like it's overlooked but it's fine,” Embiid said of the Sixers becoming a top-tier defense. “We've been doing our job…Everybody buying in, that's been the key. Just everybody buying in, everybody being on the same page, everybody just being physical. And my job obviously is to control everything, whether it's to protect the rim and call our plays…We got a long way to go before actually being the best defense in the league but being second is not bad.”

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De'Anthony Melton — who Embiid said did a great job guarding Paul George — recalled that Embiid laid out a goal for the Sixers to be the best defensive team in the league before the season started. He said that the team's message at halftime centered around improving its defense.

“The second half we really locked down defensively and we wanted to emphasize that's where we needed them [with] them putting up 30 points in the first two quarters,” the Sixers guard said. “We wanted to come out there, make them a little bit more uncomfortable.” Embiid echoed the sentiment, saying that they looked to increase their physicality.

Being good enough, or even pretty good, isn't what this group is going for on the defensive end. Joel Embiid is looking to establish himself as the best defender on the best defensive team and the squad he has is looking to reach those heights, too. Melton laid it out clearly: “We can still get better. We're in a win streak, but we can't be satisfied.”