• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers

Harris, Nets scuttle Sixers

Dec 7, 2008 - 4:56 AM By Michael Luongo PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

PHILADELPHIA (Ticker) -- Devin Harris felt lousy and went out and made the Philadelphia 76ers look sick.

Harris had 27 points and eight assists as the New Jersey Nets toppled the 76ers, 95-84, on Saturday.

"I got some great treatment early on and the were able to keep the fluids in me," Harris said. "I got some lay-ups early and got off to a good start and set the tone for the rest of the game."

Harris was a question mark before the game because of the flu but hit seven of his first nine shots to get the Nets in gear.

"I wasn't feeling too great," Harris said. "I didn't warm up at all but once you get a couple of shots, you get into a rhythm and the basket began to open up."

"He was able to push through it and it was a credit to him and his mental toughness," Nets coach Lawrence Frank said. "We talked about laying it on the line because we've got three days until our next game. He and the guys responded well."

Vince Carter added a double-double with 14 points and 11 rebounds for New Jersey.

"It was big for us in the fact that we were able to stick together," Carter said. "We stayed poised and gave ourselves a chance to win in the last six minutes of the game."

The 76ers, who were without Elton Brand (hamstring), were led by Andre Iguodala with 20 points.

"It's day-to day right now," Brand said. "Everyone is just being cautious because of my past injuries. They wanted me to miss these two games and hopefully, I'll be back on Wednesday."

"We are just trying to win a ballgame and figure things out," Iguodala said. "The guys coming off the bench are trying to figure out what they can do when they get into the game and how we can push the ball."

The Nets used the 3-point shot to their advantage. They hit 11 threes, including one by Keyon Dooling with 5:48 left that keyed a 7-2 run after the Sixers got a pair of threes by Donyell Marshall and pulled within 76-74.

"We have an expression that I stole from a very smart coach 'We like three, but we love lay-ups'," Frank said. "As long as we're having a balance between rim attacks and 3-point shots we're gong to be okay."

Dooling hit another three with 2:20 to go that pushed the New Jersey lead to 89-81 and secured its second straight win and seventh in nine games.

"The guys hit their three shots," Harris said. "The last couple of games the guys have been knocking them down at an extreme rate. When that happens, it makes the whole game easy for us."

The Nets trailed by two in the first quarter when Harris scored nine points, including seven in a row during a 13-2 run that gave the Nets a 19-10 lead.

"We put him in a position where he could succeed," Carter said." We put him in where if he has a guy one on one, he would just out quick him to the basket. If not, he does a great job finding the open man."

After the 76ers pulled to within 19-15, New Jersey got a three from Ryan Anderson and another dunk from Lopez that made the score 24-15.

Lou Williams came off the bench to key a 15-4 run by scoring six straight points that gave Philadelphia its first lead. The run was capped by Marshall's dunk with 6:40 to go in the second quarter that gave the Sixers a 36-34 lead.

New Jersey got eight points from Yi Jianlian in a 13-4 spree and took a 47-44 lead into the half.

The Nets hit six 3-pointers, including three from Bobby Simmons and a pair by Harris, in the third quarter. The final three by Carter again matched the largest lead of the game at 69-60.

"It's good for us to hit shots and share the ball as a team," Carter said. "We weren't happy with the way we shot the ball in the game against Washington. He got the shots but we just didn't hit them. It was good to see him hit good shots and have a good effort on the transition tonight."

New Jersey led 69-65 after three.