James Harden, Tyrese Maxey lead 76ers past Nets, 137-133

PHILADELPHIA(AP) — James Harden hit two 3-pointers and had a driving layup inthe final four minutes against his former Brooklyn teammates andthe Philadelphia 76ers stretched their winning streak to six games,outscoring the Nets 137-133 on Wednesday night.

Tyrese Maxeyled the 76ers with 27 points, and Joel Embiid had 26. Harden added23, and Philadelphia was 35 of 36 from the foul line.

“I don’t careabout all that stuff,” Harden said when asked if it meant more toscore against his former team.

Seth Curryhad a season-high 32 points for Brooklyn. Kyrie Irving had 30 forthe Nets, who have lost five of the last seven games without KevinDurant. The Nets lost despite shooting 64.5% from the floor.

The game wasthe first regular-season matchup between Embiid and former teammateBen Simmons since a February 2022 trade that sent Simmons toBrooklyn for Harden. Simmons missed the rest of the 2022 seasonwith various injuries, then Embiid was injured and missed theSixers’ win in Simmons’ Philadelphia return Nov. 22.

The nightstarted with Simmons matched up on the defensive end againstEmbiid, who decided to change from his traditional shot facing thebasket and muscle down low. Through the night, there were exchangesof words and stares between the two — including right before thestart of the second half. It carried through the rest of therosters, with six technical fouls called.

“It didn’tmatter to me, I always try to play whomever is front of me with thesame aggression and trying to score the ball,” said Embiid, who was6 for 18 from the floor but 13 for 13 from the line. “I missed alot of shots today, which hasn’t happened in a while. But I’m happywe got the win.”

ThePhiladelphia crowd reacted every move that Simmons made, often withboos and derisive chants. Simmons finished 12 points, five reboundsand five assists, but spent most of the critical fourth quartermoments on the bench.

“The lasttime was an eight,” Simmons said of the crowd reaction. “If we comehere for the playoffs, it will probably be a 10.”

Brooklynwould start to creep into Philadelphia’s 17-point lead in thesecond half. Simmons scored 10 points in the third quarter to keepthe Nets close. Curry and Irving, however, would serve as the maincatalyst in an 18-4 run that allowed the Nets to tie the game at120 with four minutes left.

“We had toplay perfect basketball to come back in a game like that,” saidCurry, who is Sixers coach Doc Rivers’ son-in-law. “We made a runat it, but we just couldn’t get us over the hump. The first threequarters of the game set us back.”

Harden tookover after that, with a pair of step-back 3s and a bounce pass toTobias Harris that allowed Philadelphia to get some breathingroom.

Maxey — whohas been Philadelphia’s sixth man since returning from a brokenfoot on Dec. 30 — had 16 of his 27 points in the first half.

“We’ll takethe win, but that’s a good test for us,” Rivers said. “We have tobe better at handling our emotions, but you don’t want to beemotional. I thought we were caught up in that tonight.”

TIPINS

Nets: Durantis out with a right MCL sprain. He was active on social media,making comments about trash talk between Embiid and MontrezlHarrell and complaining when Embiid made a D-generation X crotchchop after a three-point play.

76ers: Thefirst quarter was the first time this season in the NBA that bothteams had over 40 points. ... On Dec. 5, the Sixers were 12-12after losing in Houston. Since then, they have gone 19-4 andvaulted from the play-in tournament to the second seed in theEast.