Kelly Oubre Jr., Tobias Harris step up as Sixers pull away from Suns to extend winning streak to four games

Nick Nurse is learning a lot about the 76ers.

In the process, the new coach feels more confident about what certain players are capable of doing. And on Saturday, Kelly Oubre Jr. and Tobias Harris showed they can carry things when Joel Embiid and Tyrese Maxey are off.

Oubre had 25 points and Harris added 18 and 10 rebounds as the Sixers defeated the Phoenix Suns, 112-100, Saturday afternoon at the Wells Fargo Center.

The Sixers (4-1) extended their winning streak to four games.

Embiid finished with 26 points, 11 rebounds, three assists, and one block despite sitting out the fourth quarter. This marked his third straight game with at least 20 points and 10 rebounds. Maxey finished with 22 points and 10 assists on his 23rd birthday.

Maxey (nine points, 4-of-12 shooting) and Embiid (four turnovers) had down first halves. But the Sixers’ forward tandem of Oubre and Harris kept their heads above the surface.

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Oubre, making his second straight start, had 17 first-half points on 7-for-10 shooting. Meanwhile, Harris scored 12 points on 4-for-6 shooting as the Sixers took a 52-45 lead into intermission. The duo continued making solid plays after the break.

Add in Maxey and Embiid finding their groove, and the Sixers opened up a 18-point lead en route to the win.

“We are going to need guys to step up and be ready and be prepared as well,” Harris said. “We are going to need guys to be aggressive. So I thought tonight the first half presented opportunities for us to take advantage of certain situations, and just see what the game presented.

“And throughout the game, throughout the course, everybody will eventually catch their stride. If somebody got it rolling, we just go with the hot hand.”

Robert Covington, in his second game back with the Sixers, provided the defensive spark that made him a fan favorite from 2014-18. He had two points, three rebounds, two steals, and block in 18 minutes, 8 seconds.

Kevin Durant paced the Suns (2-4) with 31 points to go with eight rebounds and three assists. This was Phoenix’s second straight loss and third in four games.

When the schedule was released, this was expected to be an early test for the Sixers because the Suns are expected to be title contenders with their trio of All-Star wings in Durant, Devin Booker, and Bradley Beal.

However, Booker and Beal were sidelined Saturday.

Booker missed the game with left ankle soreness. He played in Thursday’s loss to the San Antonio Spurs after missing the previous three games with a sprained ankle. Meanwhile, Beal, a big offseason acquisition, has yet to play for the Suns because of a back injury.

The undermanned Suns shot 36% from the field — including making just 9 of 35 three-pointers.

“We just didn’t put the ball in the basket, you know?” said coach Frank Vogel, a Wildwood Crest native. “I mean, I thought we had a lot of good possessions in the first half that guarded an open three-point shot, you know, a paint finish, and knew we could convert inside and we didn’t shoot the ball well on open looks and I kind of slowed us down a little bit.”

Furkan Korkmaz appears to be making it hard for the Sixers to take him out of the lineup.

He excelled in extended minutes Thursday after the team acquired Covington, Marcus Morris, KJ Martin, Nic Batum, and draft picks a day earlier from the Los Angeles Clippers in a trade that sent James Harden and P.J. Tucker to L.A.

Nurse went back to Korkmaz on Saturday, and the reserve forward remained impressive. He scored five points on 2-for-2 shooting, including a three-pointer.

His wide-open three with 9:41 left not only gave the Sixers an 87-80 lead, it sparked a 20-6 run.

“Furk’s been playing great,” Harris said. “Just his overall ability, he’s just a smart player. He makes timely shots as well. He does a lot of things that don’t show up on the stat sheet.”

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After playing in mop-up duty Thursday, Covington subbed in 5:52 into Saturday’s game.

The forward showed flashes of his former days as a Sixer and was disruptive on the defensive end.

He chased down Josh Okogie on a breakaway, knocking the ball out of bounds. Several defensive possessions later, he used his 7-foot-2 wingspan to snatch a pass out of the air.

Covington had two rebounds and a steal during his initial 6:08 stretch. But he appeared to always be in the right spot defensively, getting a hand on the ball.

Covington re-entered the game at the start of the fourth quarter in a lineup that featured Harris, Maxey, Korkmaz, and Paul Reed. He appeared to disrupt Okogie on a layup attempt, leading to Maxey blocking the shot 1:09 into the period.

“You know I always like the first couple things is, do you have the ability and do you want it?” Nurse said. “And I think he’s got that, right? He’s got some ability, athletically, size, strength, pretty good off-the-ball stuff, and then he’s trying really hard. That goes a long way at [the defensive] end of the floor. So that’s good to see and he seems confident.

“I don’t know if he made many shots but at least he stepped into them like he was going to which is a good start.”

Covington missed all three of his shot attempts, all three-pointers.