Nets at 76ers
An eight-game losing streak is well back in the rearview mirror for the Brooklyn Nets, who are building off a pair of impressive wins after knocking off NBA-best Toronto and skipping past crosstown rival New York over the weekend. The path to three straight wins includes another tall task when the Nets visit the Philadelphia 76ers on Wednesday.
Brooklyn outlasted the Raptors 106-105 in overtime on Friday and built up a big lead before tiring late and holding off the Knicks 112-104 the next night, and coach Kenny Atkinson would like to see his team keep its foot on the gas. "Happy obviously with the wins, but I do think we still have a lot of areas to improve in terms of closing out games," Atkinson told reporters. "I even felt the Knicks game, we made some mistakes. So, it's a great time to teach. It's better to teach through a win, dealing with protecting a lead, protecting the ball when we have a lead, taking good shots, defensive execution." The 76ers won't be an easy mark for that third straight win and come into Wednesday's matchup hot after posting wins in 10 of the last 12 games, capped by a 116-102 triumph over Detroit on Monday. Not everything worked out right on Monday for Philadelphia, which lost All-Star swingman Jimmy Butler in the first quarter to a groin strain that leaves him questionable for Wednesday.
TV: 7 p.m. ET, YES (Brooklyn), NBCS Philadelphia
ABOUT THE NETS (10-18): Brooklyn gave some credit for its current winning streak to increased communication that came out of a players-only film session held prior to Friday's win in Toronto, and the players are starting to think about bigger things. "We're trying to make the playoffs," guard Spencer Dinwiddie told Newsday. "If we could rattle off the next three or four games, which isn't out of the question, the perception of the team and the season just completely shifts." Dinwiddie is a key to any potential winning streak and he led the way with 25 points on 10-of-17 shooting off the bench in Saturday's win at New York.
ABOUT THE 76ERS (19-9): Philadelphia center Joel Embiid recently expressed some concern about the way he was being used since the team acquired Butler in a trade from the Minnesota Timberwolves last month, and he looked comfortable with Butler out of the game on Monday. "You can see what I see, how important he is to us," 76ers coach Brett Brown told reporters of Embiid. "I think that Joel, just his presence and some of the plays he made late, his spirit was exceptional tonight." Embiid finished with 24 points and eight rebounds in 33 minutes and went 11-of-14 from the free-throw line.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. Nets C Jarrett Allen recorded a double-double in each of the last two games.
2. 76ers SG Furkan Korkmaz scored a career-high 18 points off the bench on Monday.
3. The teams split the first two meetings - both in Brooklyn - with Philadelphia taking the most recent matchup 127-125 on Nov. 25.