What is the story about?
Just when you thought they’d win a game in a manner you could feel good about.
The Sixers survived blowing a 28-point lead to the tanking Brooklyn Nets Saturday afternoon, escaping with a 104-97 win.
They are 36-31 and now a half game up on the Atlanta Hawks for the East’s eighth seed.
Quentin Grimes led all scorers with 28 points and eight rebounds shooting 10-of-22 from the floor.
VJ Edgecombe had a solid first half, captaining the offense to put up 16 points and seven assists shooting 6-of-13 from
the floor. Justin Edwards continued his solid play of late with 19 points on 9-of-13 shooting. Danny Wolf led the Nets with 15.
Joel Embiid (oblique strain), Tyrese Maxey (finger strain), Paul George (suspension), Kelly Oubre Jr. (elbow strain), Jabari Walker (illness), Johni Broome (meniscus tear) and Andre Drummond (back spasms) were all out for Philadelphia. The Nets were down five players including Michael Porter Jr. and Egor Demin.
Here are some thoughts at the buzzer.
First Quarter
- A much better start for Edgecombe who finished a couple early fast breaks with cutting dunks. His first turnaround jumper in the midrange fell as well before the second rimmed out. Dominick Barlow also started well with a couple of drives after erasing a Nolan Traore layup attempt.
- Edwards has also had some momentum as of late. He had a jumper just rim out as well but had success going to the basket early too. The Nets looked every bit like a high lottery team in March. They gave it away four times early and took nearly eight minutes to crack double-digit points.
- Yet another near-poster from Edgecombe, who was just a bit too hard on his attempt to turn poor Josh Minott into dust. His teammates gave him quite a hard time for not being successful, including a big thumbs down from Maxey that was shown on the big screen. Trendon Watford became the latest Sixer able to drive to the basket with relative ease, helping them get out to a 10-point lead.
Second Quarter
- It was another shift for Watford that was all over the place. He picked up two quick fouls and a silly technical foul. On top of the baskets he got for himself he had a couple decent actions with Cam Payne. Payne breathed some life into this one by actually being blessed to hit a three-pointer. The bounce pass he hit Watford with on a roll was nice as well.
- The Sixers could have messed around a lot and still got out to a 20-point lead with how this Nets team was playing. This sequence below is evidence that they did not have to be at their sharpest. After knocking down a three on their first possession of the second the Nets would go another five minutes before scoring another field goal.
- The action was so ugly that Ben Saraf slipped and fell, completely wiping out Dalen Terry as he was trying to make a fast break layup. Terry landed on his shoulder, split his free throws, and drove to the basket a few moments later so it would seem no harm was done. The Sixers took a 22-point lead into the break after the Nets put up 31 points in the half. Brooklyn had more turnovers in the first half (14) than made field goals (11).
Third Quarter
- The early third quarter surge from the opponent in this one was just the Nets making a couple of threes — the Sixers were able to withstand that. Edwards had another bout of aggression, scoring six of the Sixers’ first eight points coming out of the half, again walking into the shots he wanted. Those two points he wasn’t responsible for came from a fast break that started with his steal.
- There were some moments where he could have looked for his own shot more, but it was fun to see Edgecombe play a relaxed, controlled game as the lead ball-handler. The only mistake he made halfway through the third was an ambitious cross court outlet pass that was picked off.
- The Sixers did look like their regular third quarter selves for a good stretch. They had three ugly turnovers and smoked multiple layups. Edgecombe was also dealing with something at the end of the quarter after getting hit on the head on a drive but didn’t seem to need much medical attention for it on the bench. The best the Nets were able to do with all of that was cut the Sixers’ lead to 21.
Fourth Quarter
- Credit to Brooklyn’s pressure because it had proved disruptive. The Sixers didn’t look very capable of scoring with Edgecombe on the bench. A very up-and-down Grimes performance was a big factor in that. It took over three minutes for the Sixers to get their first field goal of the fourth when Grimes drove for a dunk.
- It’d be very hard to believe with how this game started, but Brooklyn’s three-point shooting surpassed the Sixers, who hadn’t hit one since the second quarter. Good shooters like Payne and Grimes were cold, but that’s the problem with the roster, they can’t afford the shooters they do have to have bad nights. As the Nets continued to heat up they had cut the lead all the way down to seven halfway through the fourth.
- Brooklyn continued to rain down threes as the Sixers continued to try to barrel through double teams unsuccessfully on their end. The Nets took their first lead of the game with a little over three minutes remaining.
- It was another reckless drive into two defenders, but Adem Bona was able to draw a foul and retake the lead at the line. Edwards finally got back to going to the rim for a layup. Grimes dribbled out plenty of possessions, but hit just enough midranges to put the game away. This team’s ability to make their wins feel bad as well is second to none.
