Sixers watch as Nets steal victory with last-second score

This was an opportunity for the 76ers to pay back the Brooklyn Nets, clinch the season-series tiebreaker and end their losing streak.

But Nic Claxton’s putback denied them of all three.

The Nets center got his hands on Keon Johnson’s missed three-pointer with 1.8 seconds left. Then he tipped in the ball over Paul George for a layup with 0.3 remaining and gave Brooklyn a 105-103 victory.

Guerschon Yabusele failed to box out the 6-foot-11, 215-pounder on the play and George got caught ball watching on the tip-in.

“It’s like who wants it the most,” Tyrese Maxey said. “You know what I mean? We have to go up there and get that rebound. And it’s tough. Claxton is tough,. Got to box out. He’s very active, extremely bouncy and he made a helluva play.”

Said George: “He got the tip-in. Shot went up, I don’t know where he crashed from. But he crashed, and got the tip-in.”

As a result, the Sixers (20-36) failed to avenge Feb. 12’s four-point loss at the Barclays Center. The teams have also split this season’s four meetings. And the Sixers have now lost seven consecutive games and nine of their last 10.

The loss dropped them to 12th place in the Eastern Conference standings, one game behind the tanking Nets (21-35).

Claxton finished with 16 points on 7-for-11 shooting to go with a game-high nine rebounds. Maxey scored a game-high 31 points to go with five assists and two rebounds in the loss.

Unlike the teams’ last meeting, the Sixers’ Big Three of Joel Embiid, George, and Maxey were all available. With that, the belief was that they would have a different outcome. George was the only one who played on Feb. 12, and he finished with two points on 1-for-7 shooting.

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He was better on Saturday, finishing with 15 points on 5-for-10 shooting to go with seven rebounds. However, Embiid looked like a guy who would benefit from being shut down for the season. The seven-time All-Star and 2023 NBA MVP finished with 14 points on 4-for-13 shooting to go with seven rebounds and five assists. He didn’t play in the fourth quarter.

Sixers coach Nick Nurse was asked why he played Yabusele at center over Embiid.

“Well, that group was just playing so well together and had a good feel for the game at that point,” he said, “and just wanted to let them roll with it.”

Embiid, who’s been dealing with left knee swelling all season, appeared to have nothing left in his legs. That impacted his lateral movement and ability to protect the rim on defense. He didn’t speak to the media following the game.

Reading native Lonnie Walker IV, who signed the Sixers on Friday, failed to score on 0-for-3 shooting in 10 minutes during his debut.

The Sixers trailed by as many as 17 points before closing the gap to seven points at the conclusion of the third quarter.

“They played way harder than we did early on,” Maxey said. “I guess we think we can ease our way into games. Obviously, we’ve shown it, but that’s not going to help us in the long run. That’s not going to help us in our current position as well.

“We tried to ease our way into the game, got hit in the mouth, but you know what, we responded. It was kind of like, you can’t cheat the game. You can’t start off like that, then play the right way and expect to win.”

George’s layup with 8:13 left pulled them within five points. Then the Sixers trailed, 89-86, following Kelly Oubre Jr.’s dunk 55 seconds later.

Maxey was awarded a bucket due to goal-tending with 4:44 left, closing the gap to two points. Then Quentin Grimes put the Sixers up, 95-94, on a three-pointer at the 3:36 mark. But Cam Johnson buried his first three-pointer in nine attempts to knot the score at 97 with 3:19 remaining.

Maxey responded by draining a three-pointer following a timeout on the ensuing possession. After the Nets regained the lead, he knotted the score at 103 on another three-pointer with 23 seconds left.

“It’s tough I mean, losing the game when we feel like we should have won,” Grimes said. “How we played in the second half, how we should have played in the first, putting together the whole 48 minutes of basketball. I feel if we would have played in the first half like we played in the second half, we would have had a comfortable lead and probably a different outcome for sure.”

The Nets rival the Sixers when it comes to dealing with injuries. Cam Thomas (strained left hamstring), De’Angelo Russell (sprained right ankle), Noah Clowney (sprained left ankle) and former Sixer De’Anthony Melton (left knee ACL tear) were sidelined.

Meanwhile, the Sixers were without Justin Edwards (sprained left ankle), Eric Gordon (sprained right wrist), Kyle Lowry (right hip injury management) and Jared McCain (left knee meniscus surgery).

McCain and Melton will miss the remainder of the season, while the Sixers hope Edwards returns Monday against the Chicago Bulls.

The Sixers host the Bulls on Monday. Philly holds a 2-0 series advantage over the Bulls this season (22-35). A victory would enable the Sixers to clinch the season-series tiebreaker.