NEW YORK — The Philadelphia 76ers are preparing to go for the sweep over the Brooklyn Nets in Game 4 of their first-round series on Saturday afternoon.
Going for the closeout is always the toughest thing to do because of how the team down 3-0 is going to fight. The Nets do not have any superstars. They are not as talented as the Sixers, but if Game 3 is any indication, they are going to muck this game up as much as they can to give themselves a chance.
“It’s harder for a sweep,” Tyrese Maxey said. “It’s hard to win a close game because everybody has pride out here man. These are the best basketball players in the world. If you don’t have pride, then you wouldn’t be here. You know what I’m saying? So you’re not going to just lay down and let somebody close out the series on you. You’re going to put your all into it and that’s what they’re gonna do on Saturday.”
The Sixers have to be prepared for the Nets to throw the kitchen sink at them. They have to be able to battle through the nonsense and adversity to eliminate the Nets.
“Just don’t think too far ahead,” Georges Niang said. “I mean, we got a huge game tomorrow (Saturday) at 1, and you can’t think about anything else other than that. They have pride. They’re gonna come in and give us their best shot. What I’ve learned being in the NBA is the punch-out game is the hardest game. Most teams think it’s gonna be the easiest one, especially in a situation where you have an opportunity to sweep.”
Philadelphia has to handle business this time. They had a chance to do so in 2022 against the Toronto Raptors, but were unable to do so. The Raptors pushed the series to six games, and Joel Embiid suffering a major facial injury in the elimination game. That caused him to be greatly diminished in the second round against the Miami Heat.
“We had an opportunity to do that in Toronto and we kind of took that lightly and it went two extra games and weird things happen,” Niang added. “Joel gets hit in the face. He misses the next two games, so you want to handle your business right here, right now. I think all of us are taking this day to get our legs up under us because it’s a quick turnaround and focus on what we have to do to take care of Brooklyn.”
Coach Doc Rivers is warning his team that they will have to prepare for everything from the Nets. They will have to be ready for Brooklyn’s best shot, sustain it and put them away. 2022 should be a lesson.
“Winning’s hard,” Rivers said. “I keep saying it and if you just think you’re gonna show up and win, you’re not. Even when the other team — sometimes some of the teams you played last year I thought in that game, they didn’t have any interest in that game early. Then they looked at us like ‘Oh, wow! You guys don’t want to play either. Let’s go back to Toronto.’”
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