Harris makes his dual presence felt in finale vs. Nets

Almost lost in the Sixers’ 107-86 romp over the Nets in Sunday’s regular season finale at Wells Fargo Center was an interesting milestone for Tobias Harris, the guy critics love to hate.

Harris scored 21 points to pass NBA great Spencer Haywood on the alltime scoring list. At 31, Harris has 14,612 career points, Haywood 14,594, the latter now No. 166 on the list. That perhaps puts Harris within sniffing distance of Basketball Hall of

Fame territory, his detractors should know.

Harris added eight rebounds and Tyrese Maxey scored 26 points, sparking the Sixers to victory.

“I thought Tobias was excellent at both ends,” Sixers coach Nick Nurse said. “Good decisions, played hard, physical. Guarded. He was in a lot of those shot clock violation possessions where his guy was trying to take him one-onone. He just kept them in front of them, played physical and bottled them up.”

It’s going to take a lot of ruggedness to beat the Heat, who the Sixers host

Wednesday in the play-in round. Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo are as skilled and physical as it gets in the playoffs.

“It’s going to take us buying into the game plan and being able to be the more physical team,” Harris said. “Every time we’ve played them this year we’ve understood that. We’ll be able to have these two days to really game plan and get ready for that. It’s our season on the line. It’s now or never for us. Every game from here on out that we play is a must-win. That’s how we’re going at it.”

The Sixers and Heat split the four-game season series, each winning at home and on the road.

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Nets interim coach Kevin Ollie was a teammate of Allen Iverson on the Sixers squad that beat the Lakers in the first game of the 2001 NBA championship series.

Ollie was working and unable to attend Iverson’s sculpture unveiling. But he has the utmost respect for A.I. as a teammate, describing the Sixers’ icon as a guy who would personally make a 3 a.m. road trip to help you out of a jam. Iverson’s influence lives on.

“He changed the game,” Ollie said. “Just the way we played, the way he dressed. He was authentically himself. The tattoos, the cornrows, that was A.I. The headbands, the arm sleeves, everything. But he was a warrior when he got on the court. I just remember him laying up Shaquille O’Neal, and (Iverson) weighed 165 pounds. How did he do it? It was just amazing what he did on the basketball court. He’s going to always live on as one of the greatest players that ever dribbled a basketball, and one of the greatest persons that I’ve ever met.”

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NOTES » In addition to Embiid, the Sixers scratched swingman KJ Martin (left big toe) and guard De’Anthony Melton (back). … Paul Reed played all 82 games for the Sixers. Buddy Hield, including the in-season tournament games, played 85 games on the season, 32 with the Pacers. He made 4 of 10 triples to finish with 19 points. … Robert Covington (knee/bone bruise) isn’t coming back this season per Nurse, who also has doubts about De’Anthony Melton (back).