Sixers top Brooklyn Nets, 96-88, to sweep first-round series without Joel Embiid

NEW YORK — Another Tobias Harris corner three-pointer dropped through the net, prompting Doc Rivers to raise both arms to high-five the 76ers’ standout forward as he came off the floor for a timeout.

Game. Set. Sweep.

Without MVP frontrunner Joel Embiid, who sat out with a sprained right knee, Harris’ 25 points and 12 rebounds lifted the Sixers to a 96-88 victory over the Brooklyn Nets Saturday afternoon at Barclays Center to close out their first-round series, 4-0.

“That would have been easy to just lean on that type of excuse that [Embiid’s] not out there,” Harris said. “But the whole group, we knew in the midst of the whole game that we needed to come together and find a way to get a victory. Because we definitely wanted to walk out with a win today.”

» READ MORE: Doc Rivers unsure how much time Joel Embiid will miss with knee sprain

The victory completed the Sixers’ first sweep in a best-of-seven series since 1985. They survived the afternoon — and avoided a Game 5 back in Philly — despite shooting 39.6% from the floor and being without their biggest star. Their reward is at least one week of rest and healing time for Embiid, whose status remains uncertain as the Sixers await their second-round matchup against the Boston Celtics or Atlanta Hawks, which will begin next Saturday at the earliest.

Paul Reed started in Embiid’s place Saturday, finishing with 10 points and 15 rebounds. James Harden flirted with a triple-double (17 points, 11 assists, eight rebounds) despite shooting 4-of-18 from the floor as his struggles to finish at the rim resurfaced.

But it was Harris who thrived in a return to his role creating more offense with the ball in his hands, after becoming more of a catch-and-shoot player and reliable defender since the Sixers acquired Harden at last season’s trade deadline. Harris used his size and strength to make 11 of 19 shots, generating turnaround jumpers in the lane, and converting through contact. That effort capped off a consistently strong first-round series for Harris, who scored at least 20 points in three of the four victories.

“I just work on my craft day in and day out for moments like this,” Harris said. “I understand the type of game that the playoffs is. It’s for hoopers to really shine and showcase their level of abilities to score in different spots and in different times. For me, [I had] the opportunity, and I was able to take advantage of it.”

The Sixers seized the advantage for good after a Mikal Bridges falling jumper briefly gave Brooklyn a 72-70 lead with 8 minutes, 55 seconds remaining. De’Anthony Melton — who scored all 15 of his points in the fourth quarter — answered with a three-pointer 17 seconds later, sparking a 13-2 run to push the Sixers to an 83-74 lead with 4:48 play.

The Sixers initially chipped away, then took the lead on a Harris turnaround jumper and held the lead throughout the third quarter.

After a Dorian Finney-Smith three-pointer gave the Nets a 53-42 lead early in the period, a Harden fadeaway ignited a 21-4 run to flip that double-digit deficit into a six-point advantage. Maxey held his followthrough as his three-pointer from the right wing went splash to put the Sixers up, 63-57, and forced a Nets timeout.

“At some point, our offense had to get going,” Harden said. “That third quarter, we just kept being aggressive, kept making our attacks, and generating really good shots … We got some things to turn around for us.”

Without Embiid on the floor, Nets center Nic Claxton scored 15 of his 19 points in the first half, and added 12 rebounds. Spencer Dinwiddie had 20 points, six assists, and three rebounds. The Sixers initially limited Bridges — the Nets’ rising star and former Villanova standout and Sixers’ lottery draft pick — until he scored 14 of his 17 points in the final 13 minutes of the game.

Reed flashed his skill set early, responding to getting blocked by Claxton by corralling the ball, collecting himself, and going right back up. That was an example of Reed snagging offensive rebounds and putting shots back up early on, before he made some important, quintessential Reed plays during the Sixers’ third-quarter run. He finished with eight offensive rebounds.

His jump hook cut the Nets’ lead to 53-52, before a finish off a feed from Harden gave the Sixers a three-point advantage. He also pulled down a one-handed rebound and swiped a steal that led to Maxey’s timeout-prompting three-pointer. Reed later fielded another nifty pass from Harden and laid the ball in to give the Sixers a 78-72 lead with 6:59 to play.

“Guys got on me, gave me some good constructive criticism,” Reed said. “[But they also said], ‘We believe in you. We trust in you. Just go out there and do what you do.’ The second half, I went out and every offensive rebound, if I didn’t have a wide-open layup, I kicked it out, and it helped us a lot.”

» READ MORE: Sixers-Nets: Philly completes Brooklyn sweep without injured Joel Embiid

Behind Reed, Montrezl Harrell got his first real playing time of this series with five first-half minutes. P.J. Tucker also played a short stint as a small-ball center in the first quarter and at the start of the final period.

Other rotation tweaks included Maxey playing with the second unit (Harrell, Melton, Jalen McDaniels, and Georges Niang) at the beginning of the second quarter, when he connected on a floater after putting a move on Cam Johnson and poking away a steal that he turned into a layup. Harden was back with that group at the beginning of the fourth quarter. Shake Milton also got legitimate minutes for the first time in this series, entering about midway through the second quarter and immediately drawing a foul on a drive to the basket.

Rivers credited his team’s halftime meeting with turning the offensive game around. Because what preceeded intermission was a rough watch. The Sixers shot 34% from the floor, including 2-of-11 from three-point range in the first half, while trailing by as many as 11 points.

The Sixers lacked ball and body movement while regularly playing deep into the shot clock, and did not create as many open outside-the-arc looks without Embiid constantly drawing extra defenders. Harden and Maxey both went 3-of-10 from the floor before the break, and lamented a barrage of missed layups.

Harris was the only Sixer with offensive rhythm, making five of his eight attempts for 11 points. That included a corner three-pointer off a sharp kick-out pass from Harden in the second quarter.

“We wasted a lot of offensive possessions,” Rivers said of the first half. “ ... We talked about [that] you have to want to win more than you want to score. We just took a deep breath, we started moving the ball and playing right ...

“At halftime, we were down, hadn’t played well, [but] we felt like we were going to win the game. You could feel that with our group.”