76ers nip Nets, 93-92

The wins won't stay in the win column, but the 76ers hope they will remain in their memory.

Friday night at the Wachovia Center, Sixers power forward Elton Brand hit a falling-away jumper with 7.0 seconds remaining, giving his team a 93-92 come-from-behind victory over the New Jersey Nets and keeping the Sixers undefeated through three preseason games.

"We took it really seriously; they had their starters in and we had ours in," Brand said. ". . . I can definitely hit that shot, like I did."

His shot capped a flurry of top-this heroics by the Sixers that included a three-pointer from forward Jason Kapono with 57.5 seconds left, and a baseline jumper from swingman Andre Iguodala with 17.9 remaining.

Sprinkled in between were a couple of Nets buckets: their rookie, Chris Douglas-Roberts, scored a game-high 20 points.

"It's going to have to be something that carries over to the regular season," said Sixers point guard Lou Williams, who scored 15 points and drove-and-dished on Kapono's trey. "If you go into the regular season 0-8 from the preseason, you can't just hit the 'on' button."

Sixers coach Eddie Jordan credited the comeback - his team was down by 17 in the third quarter and entered the fourth trailing, 69-55 - to his "unsung heroes," specifically mentioning backup guard Willie Green, who scored six points and had five assists. Backup forward Marreese Speights scored 16 points - 10 in the second half.

"I thought our unsung heroes started the comeback . . . then in the end our stars made the big shots," Jordan said, adding, "Total team effort to get behind and a total team effort to take the lead and win the game."

Occasionally, there were impressive flashes from Jordan's read-and-react offense - a sharp backdoor bounce pass from Iguodala to Thaddeus Young in the second quarter as an example - but for a stretch of the game, the Sixers looked more lost than found: They scored only five points in the first eight minutes of the third quarter.

Eighteen days and five preseason games remain before the season opener Oct. 28 at the Orlando Magic.

Out, out, out. Guard Royal Ivey, and forwards Rodney Carney and Stromile Swift missed Friday night's game with strained left hamstrings. Ivey said that he should be ready by Tuesday's game against the New York Knicks: All three officially are listed as day-to-day.

This and that. Iguodala started 0 for 7 from the field before making a little running bank shot about a minute into the second quarter; he finished 2 for 14 with 13 points, as did Brand. . . . Former Temple star Dionte Christmas checked into the game in the fourth quarter and promptly hit a three-pointer. . . . After Thursday's practice, Jordan said Young needed to rebound better; he had eight rebounds at the half and finished with a double-double (10 points, 10 rebounds). . . . Speights picked up a Flagrant I foul with 3:38 left in the game for "horse-collaring" Nets big man Brook Lopez.

Open and on sale. At 11 a.m. tomorrow, the Sixers will hold an open practice, free to the public, at the Spectrum. At 10 a.m., individual game tickets for the 2009-2010 season go on sale. For 30 minutes - from 10 to 10:30 - Green and Carney will assist Spectrum box-office workers.