NEW YORK _ This was a hard-fought, bounce-back game for the 76ers.
Two night after being hammered by the Indiana Pacers, the Sixers posted a 106-101 victory over the Brooklyn Nets on Monday night at the Barclays Center.
The victory improved them to 28-46 and enabled them to win all three series meetings against Brooklyn (16-58).
Robert Covington and Dario Saric the led the charge before Richaun Holmes and T.J. McConnell helped to secure the victory from the foul line.
McConnell hit a pair of foul shots to give the Sixers a 104-101 lead with 53.5 seconds left. Then Holmes added two more with 7.0 seconds left, giving his team its five-point margin of victory.
But before that, it was the Covington and Saric show.
Saric scored 14 of his team-high 23 points in the first half. It was the 23rd time in 24 games in which the rookie-of-the-year favorite scored at least 10 points. He was held to nine points on 3-for-15 shooting against the Indiana Pacers on Sunday.
Saric made 8 of 15 shots on Tuesday en route to producing his 14th 20-point game of the season. He also had seven rebounds.
Covington had 21 points, a game-high 13 rebounds, one assist, two steals and two blocks.
Brook Lopez paced the Nets with a game-high 26 points to go with nine rebounds. He also had six assists and two blocks. Chester's Rondae Hollis-Jefferson added 11 and seven rebounds and two blocks against his hometown Sixers. Jeremy Lin had 11 points, seven assists and six rebounds.
But this night was also highlighted by Tiago Splitter's return to the court.
The Sixers post player sat at his locker before Tuesday's game and revealed something reporters sensed by his body language.
"Of course, you always have (nerves)," he said. "It's my first game after 13 months. Every game, you feel a little bit (nervous). That's the beauty of the game. That's why we like to play so much."
His rust was also obvious. The post player finished with two points, four rebounds in 7 minutes, 23 seconds.
The power forward/center last played in an NBA game as an Atlanta Hawk on Jan. 31, 2016, then had season-ending right hip surgery. The Sixers acquired him in a trade on Feb. 22.
"I would say maybe 75, 80 percent of what I used to be," Splitter said. "After a surgery like that, you never know where you're going to get. But I'm feeling good. I'm feeling confident."
On this night, the Sixers had only nine available players.
Jahlil Okafor remained out because of right knee soreness. Gerald Henderson missed the game with soreness in his left hip. And the Sixers learned Tuesday that Sergio Rodriguez will miss a week with left-hamstring tightness.
This marked the third consecutive game and 10th overall that Okafor has missed with the knee soreness. Henderson was held out because he no longer plays in both games in back-to-back nights. He's expected to play in Wednesday's game against the Hawks at the Wells Fargo Center.
Sixers coach Brett Brown said he doesn't know when Okafor will return. However, he wouldn't say that the big man was completely shut down for the season. The Sixers have eight games left.
Okafor has been dealing with soreness after he had surgery on March 22, 2016 to repair a torn meniscus in the knee. He experienced the soreness in the first half of the Sixers' game against the Boston Celtics on March 19 at the Wells Fargo. Okafor was unable to play in the second half. He missed the next night's game against the Orlando Magic.
He returned to face the Oklahoma City Thunder that Wednesday. However, the Sixers held him out against the Chicago Bulls that Friday. Their reasoning was that Thunder shooting guard Victor Oladipo had inadvertently hit Okafor's knee during the matchup at Chesapeake Energy Arena. Okafor has not played or participated in a shootaround since.
