No Embiid, no problem! Despite missing their star center, the Sixers are headed to the second round of the NBA playoffs after sweeping the Brooklyn Nets with a 96-88 win on Saturday!
“From my understanding, they checked his knee out right after the game,” Rivers said, “because he was complaining about some soreness behind the knee, which is always a scary thing when it’s behind the knee with players. There was swelling already, which is way too early, and so we did the MRI.
The Embiid-less Sixers had a rough opening stint. Harris scored the game’s first bucket on a driving layup and Reed converted a short righty hook through traffic inside, but the Sixers’ offense struggled otherwise. Harden missed a layup and a floater. Sixers guards Harden, Tyrese Maxey and De’Anthony Melton combined to begin 0 for 7 from the floor. Harden also threw an ankle-height pass to a wide-open P.J. Tucker in the corner that ended up trickling out of bounds.
Under 11 minutes into the game, the Sixers had already used three centers. Rivers subbed small-ball five Tucker out late in the first quarter and inserted Montrezl Harrell, who’d essentially been outside of the Sixers’ rotation since early February. In his five first-half minutes, Harrell had no points and one rebound. The Sixers played the Nets even with Harrell on the court largely due to an effective stretch of zone defense early in the second quarter.
Harden’s finishing in the paint was still an issue, though. He blew past Claxton in the second quarter, but the 33-year-old paid for a brief hesitation and got his layup blocked from behind. Harden only made one basket at the rim all day and shot 4 for 18 from the field. Though there's been poor luck involved with some narrow misses, but Harden's timing and instincts for which option's best haven't been sharp overall around the hoop.
Harris’ scoring was valuable for the Sixers on Saturday. With Embiid out, he showed his skill in the post on several occasions, used his size and strength well, and hit several very tough mid-range jumpers. Reed was certainly not flawless, but the Sixers looked excellent defensively with him on the floor most of the day.shined in the third quarter. He consistently was steady when switched on to guards and wings, forcing contested jumpers. The Nets began to settle for a lot of threes, too.
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