CAMDEN, N.J. — The Philadelphia 76ers are up 2-0 and have won those games rather handily as they head to the Barclays Center for Game 3 against the Brooklyn Nets on Thursday.
If they can win on Thursday, it will essentially wrap up the series. No team in NBA history has ever come back from a 3-0 deficit. The Nets will be playing for their lives on Thursday, and the Sixers have to be ready for it.
As they convened for practice on Wednesday, coach Doc Rivers wanted his team to stay focused. They have the big lead on the Nets at the moment, but a series isn’t over. It’s all about keeping things moving in the right direction.
“Our job is to make sure we stay grounded,” said Rivers. “The goal is four and we’ve got two and the goal is way more than four, and we have to keep getting better. There’s a lot of things that we have to do to be a better basketball team and better in this series. So we go on the road, you got to anticipate them playing better and so we have to play better.”
The Sixers were up 3-0 on the Toronto Raptors in the first round in 2022 before allowing the Raptors to push them to a Game 6. Philadelphia does not want the same thing to happen in this situation with the Nets.
“We try to take care of business as much as we can,” Tyrese Maxey said. “We’re gonna go out there and fight, but I know for a fact that this group, when we’re healthy, we’re resilient. So that makes us dangerous.”
The Nets have hit the Sixers with their best shot in some games, but Philadelphia sustained that fight and won. That is why the Sixers feel confident they can go into Brooklyn and finish the job.
“I feel like we’ve been doing a great job of just going out there competing, in game adjustments has helped us as well,” Maxey added. “So we’re gonna go out there and see what’s poppin in Brooklyn very soon.”
Game 3 from Barclays Center is set for 7:30 p.m. EDT on Thursday.
[lawrence-related id=78777,78757,78753]