NEW YORK, Sporting Alert — Joel Embiid scored 20 points and the Philadelphia 76ers beat the Brooklyn Nets 105-95 for their 10th victory of the season, which matched their total amount all last season.
The matchup was between the NBA teams with the two worst records.
Embiid shot 8-of-14 from the floor and pulled down five rebounds and four assists in the win, while Dario Saric added 18 points and five rebounds off the bench for the Sixers (10-25), who have won three of the last four games overall.
Robert Covington finished with 15 points, 11 boards and five steals, Nik Stauskas scored 15 points and Ersan Ilyasova ended with 14 points and seven rebounds for Philadelphia.
Brook Lopez scored 26 points to lead the Nets (8-28), who have lost six straight and 11 of the last 12 games overall.
Justin Hamilton had 16 points off the bench and Bojan Bogdanovic finished with 12 points and eight rebounds for Brooklyn, which shot 46 percent from the floor and made 10 shots from 3-point range.
The Nets dominated the first half and went into the halftime break leading 57-46.
However, the Sixers started the second half with a 13-0 surge and streamed away with a 30-9 run to take a 78-73 lead after three-quarters.
They then applied a 17-2 run in the fourth quarter to finish off the game.
Following the win, Embiid says the confidence in the squad is building, revealing that despite sitting second from bottom in the Eastern Conference Standings, he still thinks the club can make the playoffs this season.
“I think we have a chance. We’ve been hot lately,” he said. “We’ve won three out of four lately, so I look at it and I think we have a chance and we’re really figuring things out.
“We’re starting to learn how to win games.”
Head coach Brett Brown would be delighted if his team makes the postseason but noted that the focus remains developing.
“We are winning basketball games more frequently than we have been, but for us it’s still, how are we doing what we do?” Brown said.
“Are we doing our job? Are we not skipping steps? Are we putting in good days? And we believe as simple as that might sound that they will add up.”
