76ers past new-look Nets, Harden booed in hostile return to Brooklyn

James Harden scored 29 points in a hostile return to Brooklyn as the visiting Philadelphia 76ers rallied down the stretch for a 101-98 victory over the Brooklyn Nets in New York’s Barclays Center on Saturday.

call it a comeback!

🪙 @cryptocom pic.twitter.com/yJDyJZ1QsB

— Philadelphia 76ers (@sixers) February 12, 2023

Harden getting booed every time he touched the ball after he was granted a trade from the Kevin Durant-less Nets to the Sixers last year.

Joel Embiid had 37 points and hit a pair of go-ahead free throws with 5.2 seconds remaining. TheCameroon ace saved the Sixers from a third loss in four games with a key rebound after hitting two clutch jumpers during the team’s late go-ahead scoring run.

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The Sixers outscored the Nets 16-4 over the final 7:43 and beat Brooklyn for the third time in as many meetings when Spencer Dinwiddie’s potentially game-tying 32-foot 3-point attempt was ruled on replay to be after the final buzzer.

Tyrese Maxey and Tobias Harris were also available for the Sixers, yet the Nets played to their newfound strengths, the chief of which comes as a byproduct of an influx of size in the starting lineup.

Head coach Jacque Vaughn moved Ben Simmons and Royce O’Neale to the bench.

The Nets started all four newcomers alongside Nic Claxton: Spencer Dinwiddie and Dorian Finney-Smith, the pair who came to Brooklyn in the Irving trade to the Dallas Mavericks; and both Mikal Bridges and Cam Johnson, the “twins” who arrived from Phoenix in the Durant deal.

Bridges led the Nets with 23 points and six rebounds in his Nets debut. Dinwiddie shot just 2-of-10 from the field for 9 points, six rebounds and six assists.

Philadelphia now leads the regular-season series 3-0.