NBA Game Summary - Brooklyn at Philadelphia
Philadelphia, PA (SportsNetwork.com) - The Philadelphia 76ers had a fourth- quarter lead but walked off the court with another loss to match the worst start in franchise history.
Kevin Garnett and the Brooklyn Nets did just enough to escape with the win.
Garnett scored three key points in the final minutes of the game and the Nets held on for a 99-91 victory on Wednesday night, dropping the Sixers to 0-15.
That matches the 1972-73 Philadelphia team for the most losses to start a season without a win. Those Sixers ended 9-73, the worst record for an NBA team in an 82-game season.
The Sixers are three losses from matching the 2009-10 Nets for the worst start to an NBA season.
Garnett's free throw and long-range jumper about a minute apart in the fourth quarter extended Brooklyn's lead to 93-89 with 32.8 seconds remaining.
The Sixers, after trailing by as many as 20 points in the first half, took their first lead on consecutive dunks from Nerlens Noel early in the fourth. But they missed eight of their last 11 shots over the final six minutes of the game.
Tony Wroten turned the ball over in between Garnett's free throw and jumper when the Sixers had a chance to tie the score.
Still, it was among their closest games of the season so far.
"I thought we played some of our best basketball of the year and some of our poorest," said Sixers coach Brett Brown.
Joe Johnson scored 21 points and Brook Lopez had 19 to lead Brooklyn, which went 2-1 on a three-game road trip. Deron Williams added 17 points and 10 assists.
"It's satisfying anytime you get a win. This is the NBA and you can't take a team for granted," said Johnson. "These guys came back, fought back and we stayed poised. We took care of the basketball and executed."
Wroten and K.J. McDaniels scored 17 apiece to lead the Sixers and Wroten added 10 assists. Hollis Thompson scored 14 off the bench but point guard Michael Carter-Williams was 1-for-9 for four points with eight assists before fouling out late in the fourth quarter.
Williams, Johnson and Lopez combined to score 29 points in the first quarter and the Nets shot better than 70 percent, leading by as many as 16 on Jarrett Jack's jumper with about a minute remaining.
Luc Mbah a Moute kept the Sixers in the building, hitting a couple of 3- pointers and scoring eight of his 10 points in the quarter, but the Sixers trailed 32-19 going into the second.
The Nets lead reached 20 on Mirza Teletovic's 3-pointer just over three minutes into the second quarter. Later, five straight points at the end of the half got the Sixers within 49-41 at the break.
The Sixers began climbing out of the hole with an 8-0 run in the third quarter highlighted by McDaniels' alley-oop dunk off a pass from Wroten. The Nets led 72-67 going into the fourth.