Jared McCain and Tyrese Maxey’s big nights stop Sixers’ losing streak at five with win over Nets

No Joel Embiid. No Paul George. No problem.

The 76ers had one of their most impressive performances, defeating the Brooklyn Nets, 113-98, in Friday’s NBA Cup contest at the Wells Fargo Center.

The victory improved them to 3-12 on the season and 1-2 in NBA Cup East Group A play. It also snapped the Sixers’ five-game losing streak.

“Obviously continue to be without some key players,” coach Nick Nurse said, “and it’s a great step up by these guys with the effort and energy and all the things they did.”

Jared McCain and Tyrese Maxey had a lot to do with the outcome.

» READ MORE: Sixers say Paul George’s left knee bone bruise is ‘not as bad as last time’

“I think obviously [Jared] continued his torrid start here, and Tyrese looked more like himself,” Nurse said. “Both of those guys were, you know, especially when we needed them, outstanding.

“But I think everybody that touched the floor tonight contributed. I really liked the activity on the defense.”

McCain, the Sixers’ rookie guard, finished with a team-high 30 points and made 6 of 11 three-pointers, along with five rebounds, three assists, and two steals. This was his seventh consecutive game with at least 20 points.

“He’s good,” Maxey said. “I just told Matt Murphy, he’s good at basketball man. He’s fearless. When you’re fearless like that, when you have that type of confidence, it’s a good feeling. We need that. We need him to be that guy for the duration of the season.

“There’s going to be different times when you have to play different roles, with [Joel] in there, with [Paul] in there, with me in there. He has to be this guy who is fearless, who can make shots, who can play defense, and play a lot of different roles.”

Maxey finished with 26 points on 11-for-17 shooting to go with five assists, four rebounds, and a game-high four steals in his second game back from a strained right hamstring.

Kelly Oubre Jr. (11 points), Caleb Martin (10 points), Guerschon Yabusele (10 points, 11 rebounds) and reserve center Andre Drummond (10 points) were the other double-figure scorers.

The Sixers won the turnover battle, nabbing a season-high 13 steals, forcing 19 turnovers and creating 25 assists on 41 made baskets. Attacking the glass, the Sixers also pulled down 15 offensive rebounds.

Friday was the first of two games Embiid will miss because of swelling in his left knee. The Sixers said they would provide further updates about his availability next week.

“He got the arena and was ruled out,” Nurse said after Friday’s game. “We’re going to treat it all weekend. ... Hopefully Monday we will give you an update or where we are at, and hopefully be in good shape.”

Embiid was listed as questionable before the game. His status was supposed to be determined by how he performed during his pregame workout. However, the 7-foot-2, 280-pounder never took the floor to workout.

» READ MORE: Sixers center Joel Embiid will miss two games because of left knee swelling

“He had some swelling from the last game,” Nurse said. “That’s something we knew we were going to be dealing with going into this season. [The Sixers medical staff member], they do what they can do to remove that swelling. But it just didn’t feel good enough to go.

“We were pretty well aware of that. Not too much longer after [Nurse’s pregame] press conference ... that he wasn’t going to be able to go tonight.”

The coach added the team’s medical staff looked at Embiid’s knee again between the first half and half time and decided to treat it this weekend.

Meanwhile, George will also miss both games this weekend with a left knee bone bruise. He will be reevaluated on Monday.

The Sixers can only hope that they can duplicate Friday’s energy while playing without their perennial All-Stars on Sunday against the Los Angeles Clippers (6 p.m., NBCSP).

Philly won, but had a tough time stopping Cam Johnson.

The 6-8 small forward finished with a game-high 37 points, making 9 of 12 three-pointers. He hit back-to-back threes early in the fourth quarter to give Brooklyn an 83-79 advantage. However, the Sixers responded with an 8-4 run to tie the score at 87.

A McCain layup gave the Sixers a 91-90 lead with 5 minutes, 50 seconds remaining. The rookie guard added a three-pointer 26 seconds later to put the Sixers up, 94-90, leading to a Brooklyn (6-10, 1-2) timeout.

The Sixers extended their lead to eight points following consecutive layups by Maxey. Then after Brooklyn’s Cam Thomas scored a basket, Maxey drained a three-pointer to make it a 101-92 game. And the Sixers lead stretched to 11 points after Maxey’s steal and breakaway dunk with 2:27 left.