PHILADELPHIA–The Philadelphia 76ers had a lot of things going for them on Thursday night. They were at home coming off an impressive win over the Chicago Bulls, they were rolling with James Harden and Joel Embiid as a duo, and the crowd was electric as they welcomed Ben Simmons back to Philadelphia.
The Brooklyn Nets then hit them in the mouth in the first quarter to lead 40-23 on their way to a 129-100 win over the Sixers where they led by as many as 36. Brooklyn had eight assists in the first quarter compared to just one for Philadelphia and they shot 65.4% compared to 27.3% for the Sixers. A team can’t win a game in the first quarter, but they can certainly lose it.
It was a game where the Sixers just absolutely struggled and it was disheartening on their end.