Sixers are slowly starting to see the fruits of their labors amount to wins, particularly on the road

NEW YORK — The 76ers believe they should have walked away from their six-game road trip with a better record.

They know they let a golden opportunity slip away when they lost a nine-point lead late in their New Year’s Day setback to the Sacramento Kings. But despite that, the Sixers went 4-2 on their road trip, which concluded with a 123-94 victory over the Brooklyn Nets on Saturday at the Barclays Center.

“We should have easily [gone] 5-1 on this trip,” Paul George said. “But I thought more than anything, we jelled, we bonded. And it was just great for us to be together.

“I think when you look at road trips, that’s really where teams come out strong.”

The trip was split into two parts. The Sixers traveled home after facing the Boston Celtics on Christmas Day. They were off on Dec. 26 before traveling to Salt Lake City the next day. They returned home Saturday night after spending nine days on the road.

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They opened the road trip with victories over the Celtics, Utah Jazz on Dec. 28 and Portland Trail Blazers last Monday. The Sixers (14-19) then lost on back-to-back nights to the Kings and Golden State Warriors before capping the trip with a victory over the Nets (13-22).

“This is the longest that we’ve been together, you know, day in and day out through the season,” George said. “So I think it showed and we caught a rhythm.”

The Sixers’ 139-105 setback to the Warriors was their worst loss of the season. Steph Curry torched them for 30 points while making 8 of 8 three-pointers. But they responded with a 29-point victory over the undermanned Nets.

And their 118-114 decision over the defending NBA champion Celtics was their biggest win of the season.

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“It showed that we can go into places and get tough wins and [grind] some wins out,” Caleb Martin said of the road trip. “But I think a big thing that I took from it is, you know, just we’re right there. We’re learning how to close games. And I think something like Sacramento was important. What stood out to me was that’s an area that we’re trying to continue to get better at and we will get better at.

“So we’re right with getting over the hump with that. Sometimes you need a game like that in those last couple of minutes to recognize what needs to be worked on and emphasize a little bit more.”

On Saturday, former Imhotep Charter standout Justin Edwards had his best game with the Sixers. The undrafted two-way rookie finished with a career-high 11 points while making 3 of 6 three-pointers.

This came after the forward finished with four points while missing all three of his three-pointers Thursday against the Warriors.

How was he able to establish himself against the Nets?

“I feel like just doing what they want to do,” Edwards said. “Just going out there and trying to play the role that they want to do to the best of my ability.”

The Sixers have instructed Edwards to play defense and make plays on offense when the opportunity presents itself. That involves attempting open three-pointers.

Meanwhile, Joel Embiid averaged 30.4 points while playing in five games during the trip.

“I think going into this six-gamer before the start of it, you probably would have been happy with 4-2,” said Sixers coach Nick Nurse. “Obviously, we let one get away from us that we kind of had put away. Five-and-one would have been really, really, really, really good.

“But I think that’s two stretches of going 4-2, 4-2 and 3-2. So if we can go get Monday night [against the Suns], it will be three 4-2 stretches in a row. So that’s not bad.”