By Sam Bush
The stars of the future combined to win the Sixers’ sixth victory last night in Brooklyn.
Michael Carter-Williams passed to Nerlens Noel for a tie-breaking dunk with 3 seconds left, sending Philly to a 90-88 victory over Brooklyn Friday night.
“A lot of credit to Michael for creating,” Noel said. “He got by his defender and I saw him driving my way. I found an open spot and he was able to find me and I finished.”
It was the 76ers’ first win against the Nets since a 121-120 overtime victory on Dec. 20, 2013. The Sixers had lost four in a row against the Nets, and their last five in Brooklyn.
Brook Lopez made a tying jumper for the Nets with 25 seconds to go. After Philadelphia took a timeout, Carter-Williams ran off some of the clock before driving and dishing to Noel for the winning jam.
“I knew I wanted to penetrate the defense and either see if I could get a shot at the basket or a pull-up,” Carter-Williams said. “But once I saw the defense coming to help on me — and Nerlens made a great play by finding the open area — I knew he’d have a good chance of scoring.”
Lopez, who led the Nets with 18 points, missed on a desperation 3-point attempt at the buzzer.
Robert Covington scored 20 points for Philly, and Luc Richard Mbah a Moute had 16. Noel finished with 12.
Five of the Sixers’ six wins this season have come on the road.
Mason Plumlee had 15 points and a career-high 15 rebounds for Brooklyn, which has dropped four in a row. Jarret Jack had 14 points and 10 assists, and Joe Johnson scored 13 points.
The Nets played without Deron Williams and Kevin Garnett. Williams is out with a fractured rib, and the 38-year-old Garnett got the night off to rest.
“We may have played the score a bit, playing not to lose instead of playing to win,” Jack said. “We may have lost that aggressive edge that we had throughout the majority of the game.”
Philly trailed by as many as 13 points in the second half, but grabbed its first lead since midway through the first quarter when Tony Wroten’s three-point play made it 88-86 with 2:41 to go.
Wroten finished with 12 points.
“We got down by 13 but give them credit,” Sixers coach Brett Brown. “They find a way to compete. They represent the city of Philadelphia and they represent themselves with a level of spirit and toughness most nights, and I’m proud of them for that.”
