Yeah, this was the expected result…even with the ejection controversies. The Philadelphia 76ers have all but secured their place in the Second Round as they defeated the Brooklyn Nets with their 102-97 controversial win in Game 3 to take the unconquerable 3-0 series lead.
This series has been wrapped up…finally.
I’ll give the Brooklyn Net all the credit in the world by making the playoffs after a year in which they fired their head coach (Steve Nash), their top three superstars, Kevin Durant (traded), Kyrie Irving (traded), and Ben Simmons (injured), played little to no role in the final 1/3 of the playoff push, and two out of the three of those super stars were traded away at the deadline for good but far less talented players (ex: Mikal Bridges, Cam Johnson, Spencer Dinwiddie, Dorian Finney-Smith).
Simply put, this team should have fallen apart and imploded to the bottom of the standings after the deadline, but interim (and now permanent) HC Jacque Vaughn and the core group of new starters (Bridges, Johnson, Dinwiddie, Nic Claxton, and Finney-Smith) were able to unit this roster and go 13-15 to secure the East’s 6th seed.
But, with all of that said, they never stood a chance against the presumptive MVP Joel Embiid and his Philadelphia 76ers.
The 76ers utterly destroyed them in the opening two games in Philadelphia as James Harden (17.3 PPG, 4.7 RPG, 8 APG, 1.7 SPG), Tyrese Maxey (23.7 PPG, 4.0 RPG, 2.0 APG, 1.3 SPG), Tobias Harris (18.7 PPG, 7.7 RPG, 2.3 APG), and Joel Embiid (20.0 PPG, 11.3 RPG, 4.0 APG, 1.3 SPG, 2.3 BPG) have all average over 17 points per game, while the 76ers have outrebounded the Nets a whopping 94-68 (and have 27-10 advantage in offensive rebounds).
I don’t want to say it’s been men against boys for most of this series, but the 76ers wining by 20 points in Game 1 (121-101) and 12 points in Game 2 (96-84) kind of paints that picture.
This Nets team is inexperienced and made up of “journeymen” (average number of teams roster player has played for: 3) who haven’t faced the pressures of winning NBA series, while the 76ers have former MVPs, the presumptive MVP, bonified Hall of Famers, an NBA championship-winning HC (Doc Rivers), and fantastic, veteran role players.
This 76ers team has been built to win championships, while the Nets are a Frankenstein monster of trade pieces and young players. So, coming into a crucial Game 3 for the Nets, it’s not surprising that they blew the game in the final few minutes.
With a little over 2 minutes left in the 4th quarter and the Nets holding a 96-91 lead, the 76ers went on a ruthless 6-1 scoring run with Tyresse Maxey nailing two HUGE 3-pointers to get the 76ers back in the game, Joel Embiid had a big-time block on Dinwiddie to keep the 76ers 99-97 lead, and P. J. Tucker (3.0 PPG, 7.7 RPG, 3.0 APG, 1.7 SPG) made a massive free throw to give the 76ers a 100-97 and ice the game.
It was an absolutely ruthless 2-minute performance that only championship-contending teams can pull off in the biggest moments.
Oh, and to top it all off, the Nets made one of the biggest blunders of the postseason yet on the ensuing inbound pass as Mikail Bridges faked out his own teammate in Royce O’Neale by pretending to come back for the ball, causing the former Jazz star to play the ball straight into Shake Milton (2.0 PPG, 0 RPG, 0 APG, 1 SPG) and allow the 76ers to add one last basket.
Now, the series is not technically over as the 76ers have to obviously win 4 games to advance, but there’s never been a team to comeback from being down 0-3 and win in the 76-year history of the league. So, congratulations on making the playoffs, Brooklyn, but you’re about to get smacked out of the playoff for the second straight season.
As for the 76ers, they really got screwed in this game with James Harden getting wrongfully ejected for accidentally hitting O’Neale in the groin while trying to brush by him. He should never have been ejected as, like I said, it was completely accidental, while Joel Embiid’s kick out on Nic Claxton was deliberate and deserving of an ejection (by the way refs nowadays).
The 76ers probably would have won this game by 5-10 points more if Harden was able to actually play the 4th quarter.
But expecting the NBA refs to actually do their job consistently and correctly is like hoping for your dad to come back after he left to buy a gallon of milk.
It’s never going to happen.
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