76ers Beat Nets For 10th Win, Match Last Season's Total
NEW YORK (AP) — Joel Embiid scored 20 points and the Philadelphia 76ers earned their 10th victory to match their total from all last season, beating the Brooklyn Nets 105-95 on Sunday.
The 76ers broke it open with a 17-2 surge in the fourth quarter to win the matchup between the NBA's two worst teams and improve to 10-25 in their first season with former lottery picks Embiid and Dario Saric. They were 10-72 in 2015-16, just off their own record for worst finish in the 82-game schedule.
Embiid did his damage without even reaching the 28-minute restriction he was limited to as he recovers from a series of foot injuries that delayed his NBA debut for two years.
Saric added 18 points, while Robert Covington and Nik Stauskas each had 15.
Brook Lopez scored 26 points For the Nets, who have lost six in a row and fell to 8-28.
The Nets led by 11 at halftime, but that lead didn't last long in the third quarter. The Sixers scored the first 13 points to take their first lead of the game at 59-57 on a jumper by Embiid.
They opened the second half with a 30-9 spurt to lead by 10, and went into the fourth ahead 78-73.
Brooklyn recovered to take an 85-84 edge but it was all Sixers from there, closing their spurt with 13 straight points to make it 101-87 on Covington's 3-pointer.
TIP-INS
76ers: Sergio Rodriguez returned after a three-game absence with a sprained left ankle, but T.J. McConnell remained the starter after recording a career-high 17 assists Friday at Boston. Coach Brett Brown stopped short of saying it would stay that way long-term or even that McConnell would play the starter's share of the minutes, but praised his play in Rodriguez's absence.
"I think we'd all be in agreement that his minutes and the volume of minutes that T.J. has been receiving while Sergio has been out hasn't hurt our team," Brown said. "He has responded."
McConnell missed first seven shots but finished with six assists and eight rebounds.
Nets: The Nets fell to 7-2 against the 76ers at Barclays Center. The seven victories are their most against any team since moving to Brooklyn in 2012. ... Starting forward Trevor Booker left after just three minutes of the second half with a bruised left hip. The Nets originally ruled him out for the remainder of the game, but he returned with 4:36 to play.
NIGHT OUT ON THE TOWN
The 76ers spent their Saturday night in New York at the Broadway musical "Hamilton," the winner of 11 Tony Awards in 2016 that uses hip-hop music to tell the story of Alexander Hamilton and America's founding fathers.
"Team stuff like that, growing a culture, building a program off the floor, that stuff matters to us," Brown said, "and I think it's just one other example of just things you try to do with a team to just grow a program and grow a culture and it was a wonderful day."
UP NEXT
76ers: Host New York on Wednesday, the first meeting this season.
Nets: Host Atlanta on Tuesday, coach Kenny Atkinson's first time coaching against the team where he was an assistant the previous four seasons.
