Nets’ furious rally falls short against 76ers as tank keeps rolling on

PHILADELPHIA — The Nets’ lineups and rotations are finally showing a commitment — shamelessness? — to the tank they haven’t had to this point.

But their bench nearly pulled off a Pyrrhic victory. Brooklyn’s reserves stormed back from a huge hole in the fourth quarter before falling 104-97 to Philadelphia in front of 18,418 at Xfinity Mobile Arena.

The Nets trailed by 28 and by 21 after three. The bench went on a 31-9 run to briefly take the lead against the Sixers.

Briefly.

Brooklyn — which played without Michael Porter Jr., Egor Demin and Day’Ron Sharpe — gave up the next six straight Sixers points and never recovered.

Josh Minott led the way with 14 points for the Nets off the bench.

Brooklyn (17-50) pulled into a tie with Washington for third in the lottery race. It is two games behind Indiana and one behind Sacramento.

Brooklyn Nets’ Josh Minott (00) tries to get past Philadelphia 76ers’ Justin Edwards during the first half of an NBA basketball game Saturday, March 14, 2026, in Philadelphia. AP

The Pacers (second-easiest) and Wizards (third) had among the toughest remaining schedules and have displayed more brazenness in their tanking, the former getting fined last month $100,000 for sitting starters and the latter having announced Anthony Davis won’t play the rest of the season.

The Nets are starting to show similar commitment.

They trailed the Sixers 29-16 after one and 53-31 at intermission, their lowest-scoring first half of the season.

It got even uglier in the second, down 67-39 after a VJ Edgecombe midrange with 7:39 left in the third.

But Brooklyn, down by 21 to end the third, stormed back with a 31-9 run to open the fourth and briefly seize the lead.

Rookie Danny Wolf was the only quasi-regular who played significant time in that run.

Two-way E.J. Liddell — who was plus-18 in just 11 minutes — hit a 3-pointer and then a follow dunk to pull them within 84-77.

Malachi Smith, who signed a 10-day contract Friday, scored a put-back and pulled Brooklyn within 86-81 with 4:27 left. And after a Quentin Grimes miss, Liddell and Tyson Etienne hit back-to-back 3s to put Brooklyn in front.

E.J. Liddell of the Brooklyn Nets shoots a 3-point basket during the game against the Philadelphia 76ers on March 14, 2026. NBAE via Getty Images

It capped a 31-9 run and gave the Nets an 87-86 lead with 3:23 to play.

But they couldn’t hold it.

Adem Bona’s free throws sparked six unanswered by the Sixers, and Brooklyn — down 92-87 — never recovered.