NETS NAIL SIXERS 116-108!

By Harry Allison

Spencer Dinwiddie scored 27 points, D’Angelo Russell added 22 and the Brooklyn Nets snapped a four-game skid with a 116-108 victory over the Sixers.

Rookie center Jarrett Allen, making his first start at home, had 16 points and 12 rebounds for the Nets, who took charge of a close game with an 11-0 run early in the fourth quarter.

Dinwiddie had six points during the spurt and a pair of recent 76ers contributed the other five points in the first meeting since a trade between the teams last month.

Joel Embiid had 29 points and 14 rebounds for the 76ers, who dropped their third straight and fell back to .500 at 24-24. Ben Simmons scored 24 and J.J. Redick had 20 in his return from a seven-game absence with a leg injury.

Simmons was 9 of 10 for 18 points in his first 14 minutes but the Sixers couldn’t build much of a lead in part because of Russell, who recently returned from a two-month absence and felt good enough to play on both nights of a back-to-back.

Neither team led by double digits through three quarters and the 76ers were ahead 92-91 in the opening minute of the fourth before Nik Stauskas — traded by Philadelphia along with Jahlil Okafor to Brooklyn in December — made a 3-pointer. Dinwiddie followed with three free throws and another 3, and Okafor scored inside to cap the run and make it 102-92 with 7:09 to play.

Embiid tried to bring the Sixers back, bulling his way for consecutive baskets that cut it to 111-107. But soon after he fouled Allen and DeMarre Carroll, who made all four free throws to keep Brooklyn safely ahead.