Dinwiddie and Nets stumble late, fall flat in Philly
PHILADELPHIA — The 76ers are making things a little too interesting.
For the second consecutive night, they needed a late spark to defeat one of the league’s worst teams.
This time, they ended the game with a 7-1 run to take a 120-116 victory over Brooklyn Nets on Friday at Wells Fargo Center.
Robert Covington had perhaps his biggest shot of the season. His 3-pointer with 35.9 seconds left gave the Sixers a 116-115 advantage. The Nets had a chance to take the lead on the ensuing possession, but after running time off the clock, Spencer Dinwiddie lost the ball after running into Joel Embiid while driving to the basket with 20.8 seconds left. Then T.J. McConnell hit a pair of foul shots with 19.1 seconds remaining to give the Sixers a three-point cushion (118-115). Dinwiddie split a pair of foul shots with 5.8 seconds left. Embiid grabbed the rebound as Dinwiddie missed the second and was fouled by Quincy Acy.
Embiid sank both foul shots to give the Sixers a four-point cushion with 5.2 seconds left.
Embiid, on his 24th birthday, made just 6 of 23 shots. But the all-star center had a gamehigh 24 points, a career-high 19 rebounds, and two blocked shots. 18-50 19-51 20-49 21-48 21-47 22-47 22-44 30-39 .265 .271 .290 .304 .309 .319 .353 .435 --1.5 2.5 3.0 3.5 6.0 11.5 64% 56% 47% 38% 29% 22% 6% 4% 25% 20% 16% 12% 9% 6% 2% 1%
JJ Redick added 23 points, while Ben Simmons finished with 21 points, 12 assists, eight rebounds, and three steals.
Rondae Hollis-Jefferson paced the Nets with 21 points to go with 10 rebounds and two steals. Former Sixer Jahlil Okafor had 10 points off the bench in his first game in Philadelphia since being traded to Brooklyn along with Nik Stauskas and 2018 second-round pick for Trevor Booker in December. —AP