March 14, 2026, 4:38 p.m. ET

PHILADELPHIA — The Philadelphia 76ers looked like they were going to cruise to an easy one on Saturday. They led the lowly Brooklyn Nets by 28 and looked like they were going to just put this one away early and get the job done at home.

However, this is the NBA. It doesn’t matter that the Nets have had a tough season and were missing their top guys. It didn’t matter that Philadelphia led by 28. These guys are talented and the Nets rallied and took their first lead of the day on a Tyson Etienne triple with 3:23 left.

It looked like the Sixers were headed for a disheartening loss, but they were able to pull together and rally for a 104-97 win despite being outscored in the fourth 41-27.

“I think the story of the game was energy, and we had a ton of it the first half, obviously, and they came out the second half, I thought with a lot and it was noticeably different, you know?” said coach Nick Nurse after the win. “That, obviously, turned the game around. We had a hard time in the fourth keeping the ball in front of us, which wasn’t the case at all in the first half, right?”

To Nurse’s point, the Sixers held the Nets to just 31 points at halftime and 26.8% shooting. Brooklyn had 14 turnovers in the first half and shot only 3-for-20 from deep. Things completely changed in the second half as the Nets shot 12-for-23 from deep and scored 66 points.

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“Guys were really chesting drives and moving their feet and kind of guarding really well, one-on-one,” Nurse added. “It turned into them breaking us down off the bounce and then either getting it the hoop or us having to start rotating pieces, and, obviously, they didn’t make any 3s in the first. They hit 12, I think, in the second half, and that moved the scoreboard really fast.”

Brooklyn’s rally was reminiscent of a recent comeback it had against the Detroit Pistons on March 7. The Nets played hard that night and stunned the best team in the East with a shocking win. The Sixers were able to rally and hold them off, unlike the Pistons, but it was still something Philadelphia could have avoided.

“They made shots,” said VJ Edgecombe. “We wasn’t making none, and they started to play hard. I felt like our intensity dropped. We started to go a lot of one on one. The ball wasn’t moving and stuff like that, but credit to us just digging deep. They had a game of that, though a few days ago when they came back against Detroit, I think? So, they’re capable of doing it. Tonight, They took the lead, but we responded, and was able to get it done.”

Quentin Grimes, who had 28 points for the Sixers, knocked down some tough shots in the fourth and scored 15 in the final quarter to help Philadelphia pull this one out. It was a win the Sixers desperately needed as they can’t afford to lose games to teams like the Nets with everything so close in the East standings.

“It’s a game of runs,” Grimes said. “Their run happened to be late in that fourth quarter when they needed it most. I feel like just Justin (Edwards) been around a lot last year. VJ has been big games. I’ve been in big games for sure. So just keeping poise and staying connected with each other, even though we’re down. It kind of shows how tough you have to be mentally down the stretch, to kind of really grind that out and just try to get a win.”

The Sixers will play host to the Portland Trail Blazers on Sunday.