Finney-Smith, who finished 8-for-11 from the field, including 4-of-7 from 3-point range, grabbed three of his eight rebounds off the offensive glass as the Nets recovered quickly from Monday’s momentum-killing 106-102 loss to visiting Memphis.
“This is our fourth quarter of our season, so we have to challenge each other,” Nets interim coach Kevin Ollie said. “We can’t let any games slip and we’ve got to take care of business.”
Brooklyn, which remained 2 1/2 games behind 10th-place Atlanta for the last spot in the Eastern Conference’s play-in tournament, won back-to-back games against the Hawks to open the stand.
Finney-Smith made sure it would be a winning one.
After the Nets burst in front to stay, he added a putback and a 24-footer to stretch the advantage to 106-100 with 1:37 remaining. Schroder’s layup with 23 ticks on the clock settled matters, making it 108-103.
“Coach’s been telling us to respond,” Finney-Smith revealed. “That’s something he’s been challenging us to do, stick together when things get bad when things aren’t going our way and we’re not making shots.”
Already without reigning NBA Most Valuable Player Joel Embiid due to a left knee injury that required surgery last month, the Sixers (35-26) learned earlier Tuesday that All-Star guard Tyrese Maxey would also be out due to a concussion suffered Sunday in Dallas.
Kelly Oubre Jr. poured in a season-high 30 points and Tobias Harris had 18 for Philadelphia, which dropped to 6-9 without Embiid and had its two-game winning streak snapped.
“I think we did play pretty well and I keep saying in these kinds of circumstances — again, we’re still not super-organized for obvious reasons — you’re going to have to play good to give yourselves a chance,” Sixers coach Nick Nurse told the Associated…
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