PHILADELPHIA — Deron Williams tried to beat the Sixers by himself last night. But as good as Williams was — and he was very good, finishing with 27 points, six rebounds and 13 assists — he and his Nets teammates needed to try and stop the Sixers once or twice.
But Philadelphia, which had lost 12 of 13 games coming into last night’s action, shot over 50 percent from both the field and from 3-point range, despite being on the second half of a back-to-back, and came away with a 106-97 victory in front of 16,789 inside Wells Fargo Center.
After Brook Lopez started out on fire, going 7-for-9 from the field to score 14 points and give the Nets a 28-24 lead after the first quarter, the Sixers spent the next two quarters hitting nearly every shot they took. Philadelphia went 12-for-19 (63.2 percent) in the second quarter, as they outscored the Nets 29-18 and entered halftime with a 53-46 lead.
The Sixers then followed that up by going 11-for-18 (61 percent) in the third quarter, including a 13-4 run over a four minute stretch at the end of the quarter that was capped by a Dorell Wright dunk that gave them an 80-66 lead — their biggest of the game — with 1:47 remaining.
But Williams, who reached the 10,000-point plateau, tried to do his best to carry the Nets back into the game. He hit two layups inside the final minute of the third quarter that capped a quick 9-2 run for the Nets to end the period and allowed them to climb back to within striking distance at 82-75 entering the fourth.
Williams kept it up early in the fourth, scoring five quick points early on a pair of drives — one an and-one layup — and then hit Joe Johnson for a layup to get the Nets to as close as four at 91-87 with 7:41 remaining, but that’s as close as they were able to get.
tbontemps@nypost.com