If not win totals, talent, or even pull in their own city, the Brooklyn Nets have prided themselves on being a team that shows up every day. That’s true even on the days most of us don’t want to, such as this one.
Yes, everyone wants an easy day of work before going into the holiday break, and the 76ers looked like they were about to get that early on tonight. It took seven possessions for the Nets to see one go down — and even that was just one made free throw. That allowed the Sixers to seize an 8-1
advantage to begin the game.
But with a grin on his face rather than a scowl, Michael Porter Jr. then became Ebenezer Scrooge, telling them not so fast. Curious Mike put in 12 points in a little over two minutes in the heart of the first period. He ended up scoring 14 of Brooklyn’s 27 points in the quarter. Those are the second most points he’s had in a quarter all season, just trailing the 16 he put up against Boston on November 21st.
While those buckets will surely boost early All-Star campaigns for Brooklyn’s leading scorer, Porter Jr. was without his usual support on the floor during the first tonight. Joel Embiid came out looking for his shot and leading Nic Claxton into foul trouble, who picked up two less than four minutes into the contest.
That gave us a heavy dose of Day’Ron Sharpe in the frame, but Danny Wolf got some first period burn as well. Nolan Traoré joined him on the floor too, making it the second straight game where the rookie received non-garbage time minutes.
Ben Saraf, who was activated before the game, never came in, even after torching everyone in the G-League yesterday. Brooklyn probably could have used him and his touted on-court poise in the second quarter, where the Nets struggled to run their offense cleanly. The Nets turned it over six times leading to seven extra Philadelphia points, which allowed them to take a momentary lead…
So, while behind, or under their high-flying hosts, the Nets went back to what’s been working for them of late: suffocating defense. Tyrese Maxey might’ve needed an oxygen mask at halftime. The league’s third leading scorer was held scoreless for until the 2:02 mark of the second. At one point in the period, he and Sixers didn’t score for roughly three minutes, ushering the Nets into a 15-3 run.
Claxton, on the other hand, refused to stay silent after his quite first quarter. Igniting the break after many of those Sixer misses, he added 10 second quarter points while shooting a perfect 4-4 from the floor. Porter Jr. got his way to 25 first half points, the most he’s had in a game in his career. The Nets added to their lead in the process, and went into the half up 63-57.
Embiid led Philadelphia at that point with 19 points but ran into trouble, or Terance Mann, soon after that. He tripped over Brooklyn’s combo guard in the third quarter’s opening possession. He stayed on the deck for a while after the collision, and after getting up, went straight back to the locker room. He’d eventually return, although without the aggression which fueled Philly’s offense early on.
Embiid’s momentary exit seemed like a call for Maxey or Paul George to turn things up, but it was old friend Andre Drummond who answered. The journeyman big scored six points in the third’s first four minutes to keep the scoring up for Embiid-less Sixers. He took a page out of Brooklyn’s book to do so, with many of those buckets being second chance points, which the Nets outscored Philadelphia in 11-4 during the first half.
Meanwhiel, Maxey looked like someone with the ground shrinking under him. He continued to look off, clanking the step backs were usually see him bury. He also picked up his fourth foul of the game less than halfway through the period.
Majestic as that hit for Dëmin’s was, Traoré was the rookie guard to get Brooklyn’s offense really humming in the period. Some might call the Sixers throwing two at him an ludicrous defensive decision. I’ll just call it the Nets eating what’s in front of them…
Ziaire Williams and Tyrese Martin mixed in triples not long after, also benefitting from the Brooklyn’s pass-heavy offense leveraging its way around Sixer blitzes. The Nets promptly went up 89-77 going into the fourth.
There, boos from the always friendly Philadelphia crowd came down early. The Sixers started the period 0-5 from the field. Traoré especially did well staying in front of the Jared McCain in the process. McCain joined his backcourt mate in the dog house tonight, as he and Maxey combined to shoot just 6-25 from the field during the game.
With 7:11 to go, the Nets led by 19, their largest advantage of the night. Philly then started throwing a few extra stunts at Brooklyn, and their frenzied defensive attack halted the Nets offense for a few minutes. A triple from George, only his team’s fifth for the game made it a nine point game with roughly three and a half to play.
But even as the pressure mounted, the Nets did all the right things to dial it back a few notches. For a second straight game, Dëmin delivered “silencer” shots, except this time actually in front of opposing fans. His two quick triples put the Nets up 14 with under two to play. Maxey even assisted on one of them…
McCain hit two threes with under a minute to go that brought the Sixers close to enough to play the foul game in the final seconds, but all they did was delay the inevitable. The cold-blooded kid from Moscow iced the game with free throws and introduced the Nets to their eighth win of the season.
Final: Brooklyn Nets 114, Philadelphia 76ers 106
Tank commanders, rejoice. Brooklyn’s next game will feature a more formidable than any we’ve seen in weeks, and certainly more star power via the Ant Man. The Nets will take three days off and then hit the road for Minnesota on Saturday. The game is scheduled to tipoff at 8:00 p.m. EST.
