Two-way spark fuels late Nets rally, but Brooklyn falls 104-97 to 76ers

C.J. Holmes, New York Daily News on Mar 14, 2026

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Brooklyn spent three quarters getting dragged in Philadelphia, then finally turned Saturday into something useful. The Nets rallied late, briefly took a fourth-quarter lead and watched their two-way group inject real life into a 104-97 loss to the 76ers at Xfinity Mobile Arena.

The Nets dropped to 17-50 and lost their third straight. But for a team in evaluation mode, the closing stretch showed why these minutes matter, even when the final score doesn’t show it.

Danny Wolf led Brooklyn with 15 points and 10 rebounds. Josh Minott added 14 points on 4-for-12 shooting, while Ben Saraf finished with 12 points, four rebounds and five assists as the Nets shot 36% for the game.

Quentin Grimes scored a game-high 28 points for Philadelphia, Justin Edwards added 19 and VJ Edgecombe had 16 points, four rebounds and seven assists. The 76ers scored 20 points off 17 Nets turnovers.

Brooklyn was missing a long list of regulars. Michael Porter Jr. was out with a right ankle sprain. Nic Claxton sat for rest. Drake Powell was out with left knee injury management. Day’Ron Sharpe, out for the season, missed the game with a left thumb sprain. Egor Dëmin, also out for the season, remained out with left plantar fascia injury management.

That left the Nets starting Wolf, Nolan Traoré, Terance Mann, Ziaire Williams and Noah Clowney. It also opened the door for a new face. Malachi Smith, promoted from Long Island after signing a 10-day contract, played his first game with the big club.

The opening minutes went sideways fast. Brooklyn’s first possession ended in a Traoré turnover, and Edgecombe finished the other way with a two-handed slam down the middle of the lane. A few possessions later, Traoré had a layup blocked from behind by Dominick Barlow, which set up Edgecombe’s second basket and a 4-0 deficit before the Nets could settle in.

They never really did. Brooklyn shot 30% in the first quarter, committed eight turnovers and trailed 29-16 after allowing Philadelphia to shoot 50%. Edgecombe poured in 10 points on 5-for-8 shooting in his first nine minutes.

Down 18-9 with 5:47 left in the opening period, Smith checked in and became the eighth player to make his NBA rookie debut with the Nets this season. He finished with four points, three rebounds and one assist in 23 minutes. Smith scored his first NBA points on a strong drive to the rim with 1:22 left in the first quarter, but Brooklyn was already fighting the game and its own mistakes.

The second quarter turned into Brooklyn’s lowest-scoring first half of the season. The Nets went 5 for 21 from the field in the period. Two of those makes came from Minott and two came from Wolf. Traoré and Saraf each had one.

Philadelphia stayed efficient, kept moving the ball and converted 50% of its shots in the half to take a 53-31 lead into the break. Brooklyn shot 26.8% in the first half, committed 14 turnovers and made only three 3-pointers on its first 20 attempts. All nine 76ers who saw the court scored in the first half, while Mann and Tyson Etienne were a combined 0 for 8 for Brooklyn.

Philadelphia led by as many as 28 points in the third quarter, and Brooklyn still trailed by 21 entering the fourth. Then the Nets finally found a pulse, and it came from the players fighting for their next opportunity.

E.J. Liddell scored a career-high 10 points on 4-for-5 shooting and 2 for 3 from 3-point range. Chaney Johnson set career highs with six points, 10 rebounds and three steals. Etienne scored a season-high 11 points, knocking down three 3-pointers.

An 8-0 run fueled by Liddell, plus a block by Smith, made it a seven-point game with 5:29 to go. Smith’s second basket, another layup, cut it to five with 4:27 left. Liddell’s second 3-pointer of the afternoon made it a two-point game, and after he swatted a shot from Grimes moments later, Etienne drilled his third 3-pointer to give Brooklyn its first lead at 87-86 with 3:23 left, capping a 10-0 run.

Philadelphia answered with six straight points to restore a five-point lead with 2:16 left. Saraf’s layup, followed by a missed free throw on the three-point play, cut it to three with 1:16 remaining, but Grimes hit a long jumper to push it back to five. Brooklyn kept pushing and traded buckets in the closing seconds, but the 76ers did just enough at the free throw line to close it out.

The Nets outscored Philadelphia 41-27 in the fourth quarter.

Head coach Jordi Fernández has been direct about what this stage of the season is for, and why certain minutes are going to players who need them. He addressed Porter’s ankle and why Porter and Claxton didn’t play in the fourth quarter of Thursday’s loss to Atlanta.

“They’re both good health-wise,” Fernández said. “It goes back to seeing guys that haven’t had a chance to play those minutes, because I think it gives me a better sense of who they are as players and what I can see as they develop.”

With the two-game road trip finished, the Nets return to Barclays Center on Monday to face the Portland Trail Blazers.

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