Brooklyn Nets guard Kyrie Irving has had to do a lot of learning throughout his career and Wednesday’s game against the Philadelphia 76ers was nothing different. In Wednesday’s 137-133 loss to Philadelphia, Irving had 30 points (9-of-15 from the field, 2-of-5 from behind the three-point line, 10-of-11 from the free-throw line) and 10 assists in a game that Brooklyn could learn a lot from.
Despite shooting 64.5% from the field and 53.8% from three-point land as a team, the Nets allowed the 76ers to shoot 51.2% from the field and 47.4% from three in a disappointing defensive effort. Brooklyn gave up those numbers despite holding Joel Embiid and James Harden to 12-of-30 shooting from the field, which should win any team that game. That means they allowed the supporting cast to shoot 30-of-52 (57.6%) from the field and that would be a losing effort on most nights.
This is the second time that these teams have played each other this season and it looks like these teams could see each other in the playoffs too. Even though Brooklyn has lost both contests, they see how the 76ers like to run their offense and try to plan accordingly. Irving spoke postgame about what this regular-season series could do for the Nets come playoff time:
“I think we learned a lot about this team (76ers) tonight. Just the way they play, the style of play, what they’re going to do down the stretch, just taking notes. That’s it. So, we obviously wanted to come away with the win tonight, but I’m glad the way we we battled.”
[mm-video type=playlist id=01fv0185pfxtewh01r player_id=01f5k5xtr64thj7fw2 image=]
[listicle id=50662]
[listicle id=50665]