D’Angelo Russell scored 22 points in one of his best games since returning to the Brooklyn Nets, who continued their surge by holding on in the final minute for a 100-96 victory over the Philadelphia 76ers on Wednesday night in New York.
After shooting 14 of 49 from the field in his previous four games, Russell made 9-of-15 shots and scored his second-most points since being acquired from the Los Angeles Lakers for Dorian Finney-Smith on Dec. 29.
Reserve Trendon Watford tied a season high by contributing eight of his 18 in the fourth quarter. Cameron Johnson added 16 while Nic Claxton collected 13 points, 11 rebounds and five blocks to help the Nets win their third straight and for the sixth time in seven games.
The 76ers held out Joel Embiid (left knee management) on the second night of a back-to-back and were without Tyrese Maxey because of a bruised right knee. Kelly Oubre Jr. and Quentin Grimes set season highs with 30 points apiece, but Paul George was held to two points on 1-of-7 shooting.
Justin Edwards added 13 off the bench but Philadelphia lost its fifth straight, fell to 1-7 in its past eight and entered the break 14 games under .500 at 20-34.
Russell scored 14 points in the opening quarter before the Nets settled for a 53-49 lead by halftime after holding an 11-point lead.
After Philadelphia briefly took the lead on a 3 by Grimes, Russell scored seven points as the Nets outscored the Sixers 19-8 over the final 8 1/2 minutes and carried a 76-66 lead into the fourth.
Brooklyn extended its lead to 85-70 on a drive to the rim from Day’Ron Sharpe out of a timeout with 8:10 left, then Oubre scored 12 straight points and hit a 3 that moved the Sixers within 91-85 at the 3:49 mark.
Brooklyn upped the lead to 98-88 on a layup by Cameron Johnson after he stole the ball from George with 2:11 left. Claxton’s easy dunk off a feed from Watford made it 100-90 with 43.9 seconds left but the Nets survived allowing six straight points after Grimes and Edwards badly missed 3s in the final 16.1 seconds.
–Field Level Media
