Sixers 127, Nets 125: Jimmy Butler the hero again as Sixers pull off improbable comeback

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Jimmy Butler has played seven games with the Sixers. He's already made two game-winning shots.

Butler's three-pointer with 0.4 seconds left in the fourth quarter Sunday night gave the Sixers a 127-125 win over the Nets, completing a furious comeback from a 20-point deficit.

The Sixers are now 14-8 on the season.

• Butler scored a season-high 34 points. Eighteen of them were in the fourth quarter. It's fair to say the worries about him not being aggressive enough in his first few games with the team were a tad premature.

• Head coach Brett Brown said after Friday’s loss to the Cavaliers that the Sixers struggle guarding teams with three “live-ball guys,” like the Nets. 

While having a player like Butler makes defending teams with multiple skilled shot creators easier, the Sixers’ weakness in that area is apparent when Brown turns to his bench. 

Outside of Butler, Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons, the Sixers have plenty of below-average on-ball defenders. It’s usually not going to end well when you ask Furkan Korkmaz to guard D’Angelo Russell, or when Mike Muscala keeps getting switched onto Spencer Dinwiddie.

The Nets attacked those mismatches time after time. 

Russell had a season-high 38 points. Dinwiddie chipped in 31, also a season-high.

Brooklyn shot 56.8 percent from the floor, topping the previous season-high for a Sixers opponent — the Cavs’ 52.7 percent Friday.

Both the Cavs and Nets made some difficult shots, but the Sixers’ defense hasn't been very good these past two games. 

• Embiid is still playing at a very high level. He had 32 points and 12 rebounds.

He emulated Tracy McGrady with this alley-oop to himself off the backboard late in the third quarter. 

• Landry Shamet looks more comfortable finding his own shot each game. Shamet is constantly moving and hunting open looks, and he’s finding his spots more and more. He had a career-best 16 points on 5 for 7 shooting against the Nets. 

• Amir Johnson didn’t play for the first time this season. Given his struggles, that’s an understandable decision from Brown. But sitting Johnson doesn’t solve the Sixers’ issues with rim protection when Embiid is on the bench. There was little to no resistance for Russell, Dinwiddie and Co. once they beat their man on the perimeter. A capable backup center is looking like a more and more attractive option with that open roster spot. 

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