PHILADELPHIA (AP) – James Harden hit two three-pointers and had a driving layup in the final four minutes against his former Brooklyn teammates and the Philadelphia 76ers stretched their winning streak to six games, outscoring the Nets 137-133 yesterday.
Tyrese Maxey led the 76ers with 27 points, and Joel Embiid had 26. Harden added 23, and Philadelphia was 35 of 36 from the foul line.
“I don’t care about all that stuff,” Harden said when asked if it meant more to score against his former team.
Kyrie Irving had 30 for the Nets, who have lost five of the last seven games without Kevin Durant. The game was the first regular-season matchup between Embiid and former teammate Ben Simmons since a February 2022 trade.
Simmons missed the rest of the 2022 season with various injuries, then Embiid was injured and missed the Sixers’ win in Simmons’ Philadelphia return November 22.
“We’ll take the win, but that’s a good test for us,” Rivers said.
“We have to be better at handling our emotions, but you don’t want to be emotional. I thought we were caught up in that tonight.”
