A raucous Philadelphia crowd was on hand for Ben Simmons’ highly-anticipated return to the city he spent the first five years of his career at and helped will a 115-106 76ers upset victory over the Nets.
The 76ers were without Joel Embiid, James Harden, and Tyrese Maxey but still managed to earn a win against a near full-strength Nets unit.
Philadelphia were led by Tobias Harris’ 24 points and six rebounds on 10-of-21 shooting as well as De’Anthony Melton’s 22 points, four assists and three steals.
Backup big Paul Reed offered a much-needed boost for Doc Rivers’ squad finishing with 19 points, 10 rebounds and three steals on 7-of-9 shooting.
Shake Milton had 16 points, six rebounds and five assists whilst Georges Niang made his presence felt finishing with 16 points on 5-of-6 from three.
P.J. Tucker was held scoreless for the fourth-consecutive game but did have five rebounds, three assists and three steals in his 37 minutes.
Despite missing their three stars, Philadelphia outhustled and outplayed Brooklyn from early on.
Brooklyn snatched an early lead in the first before the 76ers stormed back to capture a lead of their own midway through the period, which they held onto heading into halftime.
The Nets wrestled the lead back at three separate stages in the third quarter but were unable to spark any sustained momentum as Philadelphia stormed home in the fourth, stretching the lead out to 16 at one point.
Philadelphia hit on an incredible 16 of their 32 three-point attempts and were plus-14 in rebounds against a Nets team that ranks near the bottom of the league in rebounding whilst forcing six more turnovers.
The Nets were led by Kyrie Irving’s 23 points on 10-of-18 shooting whilst Kevin Durant added 20 points, five rebounds and five assists.
Simmons, who contended with night-long jeering from the Philadelphia faithful, put up a strong, all-around showing finishing with 11 points, 11 rebounds, seven assists, three blocks and three steals whilst Seth Curry, who was traded along with Simmons to Brooklyn last season, dropped 14 off the bench.
The 76ers improve to 9-8 on the year and will come up against the Hornets tomorrow on the road whilst the Nets are now 8-10 and will are also back in action tomorrow against the Raptors in Toronto.
