The Brooklyn Nets are who they say they are. This team had their backs against the wall going into their Thursday matchup with Philadelphia and they dealt with the pressure so professionally. When it was all said and done, Brooklyn defeated the Sixers in yet another game that went down to the wire.
Going into the contest, it was expected that the Nets would be outplayed in the interior with them being short-handed. Instead, a bizarre game plan by Nets head coach Steve Nash was executed to perfection. His schemes had Brooklyn not only outscoring the Sixers 48-42 in the paint, but also outrebounding them 48-38.
Of course, Joel Embiid (32 PTS, 9 REBS, 6 ASTS) was the focal point primarily for this Nets defense. Brooklyn forced him to be a playmaker in the opening minutes, but as the game resumed, Embiid went into attack-mode. He was at the forefront of a run that got the Sixers back into the game going into the fourth after trailing by as many as 20.
When the moment of truth came in the final period with the score all knotted up courtesy of this rally from Philadelphia, Kevin Durant (34 PTS, 11 REBS, 8 ASTS) closed out the game. Durant hit shot after shot even while being contested and those shots being of high difficulty. This man is just in his element right now and no defense seems to bother him at this point in time.
With Philly’s defense adjusting, Blake Griffin (17 PTS, 9 REBS) stepped up to knock down a dagger from deep after going 0-of-4 from behind the arc before that shot.
Steve Nash and his squad will look to build off of this momentum on Saturday when they face the Orlando Magic. Let’s take a look at the grades from Thursday’s win: