Simmons sees ex-teammates lead Nets win

Ben Simmons has watched from the bench as two ex-Philadelphia teammates helped the Brooklyn Nets rally from 28 points down to stun the Knicks 111-106 in their NBA New York derby clash.

The Nets were playing without their three All Stars, Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving and the newly acquired Australian Simmons at Madison Square Garden on Wednesday night, but again showed heartening signs of a season revival.

Seth Curry and Andre Drummond - players who came from the 76ers as part of last week's Simmons-James Harden trade - played leading roles. Sharpshooter Curry scored 20 points and Drummond had 20 rebounds.

But rookie Cam Thomas led the way for Brooklyn, scoring 16 of his 21 points in the fourth quarter.

He sparked a 15-0 run in the fourth that gave Brooklyn their first lead of the game with just under four minutes remaining and hit a deep 3-pointer to clinch it with 6.8 records remaining, a shot that had Durant dancing far off the bench in delight.

It was a second consecutive win for the Nets (31-27) who had lost 11 straight before that and slipped to eighth in the eastern conference in Durant's injury absence.

Coach Steve Nash said the Nets hadn't gauged yet where Simmons' conditioning was, focused more on planning the buildup to his eventual debut after sitting out all season before he was traded last Thursday.

Julius Randle had 31 points and 10 rebounds in perhaps the most embarrassing loss of a disappointing season for the Knicks who stumble into the All-Star break at 25-34 a year after making the playoffs for the first time since 2013.

In Oklahoma City, Australian teenager Josh Giddey produced a third consecutive triple-double with 17 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists as his Oklahoma City Thunder lost to the San