The Philadelphia 76ers are in Brooklyn tonight to face the Nets for Game 3 in the first round of the NBA Playoffs. 

After a sloppy first half of basketball on Monday night in Game 2, the Sixers got things together in the second half to earn a 2-0 series lead with another double-digit win against the Nets 96-84. 

That’s important, because the Sixers never looked worse at any point of this season as they did in the first half against Brooklyn on Monday night. Outside of Tyrese Maxey and Tobias Harris, the Sixers stumbled onto the court in the first half, starting the game 0-for-5 from three point range.

The main issue was the lack of spacing and being able to move the ball productively through Joel Embiid who was yet again, hit with double and triple teams throughout the night. 

Still, with the Brooklyn Nets throwing everything they had at the Sixers in the first half, they entered halftime with only a five-point advantage and from there, you knew that this game was going to go in the Sixers’ favor. 

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The second half started with Rivers calling a timeout just a minute into the third quarter. Whatever happened during that timeout, the Sixers responded quickly, turning things around while holding the Nets to just 14 points in the frame, which was a 10 point swing to lead by five points heading into the fourth.

It will be interesting to see how Jacque Vaughn and the Nets approach Game 3 tonight. The double and triple teams on Joel Embiid certainly have not worked over the first two games, with everyone surrounding the MVP front runner answering the call. 

Tyrese Maxey led the way for the Sixers in Game 2 with 33 points on 13-of-23 shooting from the floor, while hitting 6-of-13 shots from beyond the arc. Tobias Harris scored 20 points with 12 rebounds two assists, and a block, while Joel Embiid on a slow night, scored 20 points with 19 rebounds, seven assists, a steal, and three blocks. 

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Again, the Nets stuck to the same game plan they went with in their double-digit loss in Game 1 and tried to do the same in Game 2, which I have said and will continue to say is a bad strategy if they want to win a game this series. 

At the end of the day, the Brooklyn Nets shouldn’t even be a playoff team. If it wasn’t for the record they built when Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving were still playing for them, they would basically be a lottery team. 

Tonight, they can pick their poison. Either you stick with your defensive scheme and let Joel Embiid work masterfully out of double and triple teams to find his teammates to score, or you focus on everyone else and hope that Embiid, who would likely score 50 in that situation, can’t beat you alone. 

Either way, there’s just too much firepower on this Sixers teams for the Nets to handle and much like the first two games of this series, expect a similar result with a double-digit win for the Sixers. 

Philadelphia 76ers at Brooklyn Nets

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